Deadly Silence: Resident Evil I
by Liquid
Summary: After a mission to save Raccoon City from the Cannibal Murders goes bad, the surviving members of STARS are forced to take refuge inside a seemingly abandoned mansion. There they will discover the true meaning of terror, as they are hunted by monsters from beyond imagination... but are the worst enemies among them?
1. Chapter 1 The Cannibal Murders

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter One: The Cannibal Murders**

 _Raccoon City… a small urban center in the American Midwest, almost out of place against the rural backdrop of the heavily forested Arklay Mountains. It was a city like any other, where children rushed off to school every morning, while parents did the same to their jobs, and a steadily increasing population led to an equally increasing crime rate. Funded largely by the Umbrella Corporation, the city enjoyed two decades of relative prosperity, with a booming economy and healthy tourism industry… until the spring of 1998._

 _ **NEW VICTIM OF VIOLENT ATTACKS DISCOVERED**_

 _June 30_ _th_ _, 1998 by Ben Bertolucci_

 _In spite of the promises made earlier this year by the Raccoon City Police Department, yet another victim of the exceptionally brutal attacks taking place in the mountains surrounding Raccoon City has been located. Identified as 28 year old Susan Thompson, an Ornithologist vacationing from New York City, she was discovered early this morning by a group of hikers in the upper region of the forest zone._

 _Like the other victims, Susan had at first appeared to have been mauled by a large animal, such as a bear or a coyote, but after conferring with anonymous sources within Raccoon City General Hospital, it can be confirmed that the attackers were human. According to the report, Susan would have been descended on and attacked by a small group of people while birdwatching, and the cause of death has been listed as loss of blood from wounds caused by human teeth._

 _In a brief statement obtained this afternoon, Raccoon City Mayor Michael Warren, while insisting that the police have everything under control, has also urged the people to exercise caution if traveling through the forests outside the city, and to avoid doing so at night all together. Rumors of a possible citywide curfew have been dispelled for the moment, however, with the Mayor insisting once again that everything is under control._

"What in the purple _fuck_ , Brian?!" Mayor Warren yelled, slamming down a copy of the Raccoon City Press on the Chief's Desk. "You promised me that this the city was _safe_ , and that those sick bastards out in the woods were gonna be dealt with, remember? So why, oh _why_ , does this God damn reporter have a _seventh_ body to write about?!"

"Mr. Mayor, these things take _time_ and _resources_." RPD Chief Irons replied calmly. "You might not have noticed, but the Arklay Mountains are a pretty big place, and with the crime rate within the city _still_ going up, I don't have the manpower for a proper search and investigation… unless you want a repeat of what happened back in march."

There had been an attempt to investigate the murders a couple months before, back when the body count was a lot lower, but… calling that mission a failure would have been like calling the _Challenger Space Shuttle_ a minor setback. The destruction to Arklay County property had been staggering, as well as the loss of an important historical site, giving plenty for the newspapers to write about, but almost killing the tourist industry… with no results. Thankfully, the boys in _PR_ had been able to claim that fires and explosions were all accidents.

"No, no, no, Brian, not this time." Mayor Warren said with finger pointed. "No more blaming cops who are dead or comatose, this time… this time it's all on _you_. The people of this city are demanding an end to these… what are they calling them, _Cannibal Murders_? So, I don't care how you do it, but either this negative press… _and_ these murders end by the end of the week… or your _career_ does."

With that, the Mayor turned away and stomped toward the door, slamming it loud enough to shake the walls and knock down a photograph. Warren could be heard yelling to himself while continuing to stomp his way down the hall, seeming to pass an Officer who must have said good day to him or something, because the Mayor could be heard telling them to _stop wasting time and get back to work_ , before finally getting too far away from the office to be heard anymore.

"Well, _Sieg Hail, mein Furhur_." Irons grumbled under his breath, giving a mock Nazi salute. "Douchebag… _oh, the poor people of this city_ … _oh, that mean old reporter_ … I hope the papers catch you screwing a _goat_ , you God damn asshole."

His feelings about the Mayor aside, the Chief knew that the city really _was_ facing a crisis, and that the people were going to be looking to him, maybe even more so than the Mayor, to resolve it. Using a scapegoat from the disaster a few months ago had worked for a while, but the killers were still out there, and they seemed to be getting bolder with each passing week. At first it had been only random attacks in the woods at night, but one of the more recent ones had involved a family getting torn apart after a group broke into their home.

So what was he going to do? Irons hadn't been lying about being short on manpower and resources, especially since the Mayor had spent a huge portion of the city's budget on things like statues of himself, and a totally unnecessary cable-car line that only serviced a small part of the city. A good portion of Homicide Division was out of commission, while Burglary and Traffic Divisions were needed on their regular patrols throughout the city, since for some reason the _scumbags_ of any population wanted to get even _worse_ when bad things were going on.

That left what? _STARS_? It was possible to dedicate that whole group to the Cannibal Murders, but what would happen in the city if the _Special Tactics and Rescue Service_ , which had replaced SWAT a few years before, was all out in the forest looking for ghost-like murderers while _real_ criminals were robbing a bank? No, that one would be Mayor Warren's fault, since after all, he had _ordered_ the Chief to get this matter resolved by any means necessary.

"Steven, bring me all the files from Homicide Division involving the Cannibal Murders." Irons said, pushing the intercom button. "And then have Captains Wesker and Marini come to my office at once."

" _Yes, Chief Irons_." The voice of his secretary replied. " _I'll have it done right away_."

 _'I'll have it done right away'_ the Chief mocked after the conversation was over, feeling suddenly angry that he had to have a _man_ for a secretary, instead of a beautiful young woman… of course, there were reasons why that couldn't happen, since he would never get anything done, especially if she was good looking. Oh well, Steven was decent at his job, even if he had a habit of getting into things that he wasn't supposed to, for instance… why would a secretary have any business moving a decorative statue? A janitor, certainly, but Steven had no reason at all to touch… _anything_ in the precinct.

About fifteen minutes later his secretary came into the office while carrying two medium size boxes, each one stuffed with papers and reports, and each one the young man was relieved to be able to finally set down onto Irons' desk. With that, Steven was dismissed, and the next time someone knocked on the office door, it was Albert Wesker and Enrico Marini, the two Captains who ran the STARS unit. Both men were professional and good at their jobs, but… he just wished that Wesker didn't look so much like a _Fed_ with his blond slicked back hair and perpetual sunglasses.

"Okay, boys, here it is." The Chief explained, leaning back in his chair. "The people are scared, and the Mayor is breathing down my neck like a subway-train rapist at rush hour, so your department is being put on the Cannibal Murders effective immediately."

Their assignment was relatively simple, at least in its explanation, having to take all of the data and reports filed by the investigation last spring, and combine it with the new data from the past couple months in order to track down the killers. This case was to be given all of the STARS department's resources and attention, and while Captain Marini seemed almost excited to be given such a high profile undertaking, Wesker looked annoyed.

"Once you have found where the cannibals are hiding, you are to move in on them immediately." Irons continued, leaning forward again. "No survivors, though, am I clear? I want these sick freaks as dead as the many trophy animals on my walls, because the _last_ thing we need is for some bleeding heart lawyer to get them off on a _technicality_."

"Don't worry, Chief." Captain Marini replied, leaning forward in his own chair across the desk from Irons. "STARS was _designed_ for extreme situations like this one, so I'd say that the case will be closed by… the end of August?"

"Oh, I agree completely." Wesker calmly added with a slight smirk. "In fact, I'm so certain of our success, that I'll give Enrico's _Bravo Team_ the honor of going in first… once these _sick freaks_ , as you say, are located."

Well, this made Irons feel a little bit better, and he gave a slight sigh of relief as the two Captains gathered up the boxes in order to begin reviewing back at the STARS Office at the other end of the precinct. Honestly, their department was a motley crew of weirdos who looked more like they belonged in a _NARC_ unit, with their non-regulation hair and… sort of uniforms. Still, the two _female_ members on the team gave him something nice to look at.

Opening one of the drawers of his desk, the Chief took out a couple of small photographs, the first being of a young woman in her early twenties with brown hair and a very… _tone_ body. Corporal Jillian Valentine, a member of STARS _Alpha Team_ , was the daughter of Richard _'Dick'_ Valentine, a petty criminal who was doing fifteen years in the _County Jail_ for a job that had gone wrong back in '92. Apparently the little brat had been _scared straight_ by the arresting detective, and joined the RPD after a few years in the US Army… immediate STARS candidate, mostly due to her _unconventional_ skillset learned from her father.

The second photograph was that of a much younger girl, a redhead with short hair and a _beautiful_ smile. She was a skinny thing, not athletic like Valentine, but Rookie Officer Rebecca Chambers hadn't been recruited right out of college for her physical skills. The girl was only eighteen years old, but had already graduated from some university with a _Master's Degree_ in Biology or Chemistry or something, and STARS wanted her. Of course, they weren't the only ones who did…

Now rubbing his thumb along the photograph as if he were stroking Chambers' hair, Irons licked his lips, and forgot all about Valentine while imagining the unique things he wanted to do to the little _scientist_ if they were alone. Too bad he couldn't simply take her away without the rest of STARS noticing… but if she ever decided to _resign_ from the RPD, well… how would anyone ever know that she was never able to leave?

There was a picture of everyone in the STARS unit on the wall, with both teams standing in front of one of the precinct's helicopters, but aside from wanting them to do their jobs, Valentine and Chambers were the only ones that the Chief ever thought about. Of course, the whole city was going to be thinking about them soon, especially since the Mayor was probably going to do something ignorant like publicly announcing that STARS was going to _save the city_ … oh, that man was an idiot… he had a very attractive _daughter_ , though…


	2. Chapter 2 RPD Elite Unit STARS

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Two: RPD Elite Unit STARS**

 _ **HORROR IN RACCOON! MORE VICTIMS DEAD!**_

 _July 15_ _th_ _, 1998 by Ben Bertolucci_

 _As if emboldened by the inability of the Raccoon City Police Department to stop them from committing these horrendous crimes against the people of Raccoon City, the perpetrators of the so called Cannibal Murders have begun to escalate their attacks. Now breaking into homes as close as the north side of the old Water Treatment Facility, it seems that no one is safe to go camping or hiking, or even living in the Arklay Mountains without fear of meeting this grizzly fate themselves._

 _With the death toll rising into the double-digits, and without a single suspect brought into custody, the Mayor has ordered, in a Press Conference this morning, that Good Street and Mission Street, the most heavily traveled routes into the Arklay Mountains, are to be closed at once. A police barricade will be erected on each road at the city limits, preventing anyone from venturing into the forest zone until further notice, with the Arklay County Sheriff's Office erecting barricades of their own at their end._

 _Those living inside the quarantined area are also being temporarily relocated for their own safety, so far without incident, but leading to the discovery of another set of victims who were killed in their homes, possibly as long as several days before. More details on this story as information becomes available._

' _ **STARS' (SPECIAL TACTICS AND RESCUE SERVICE) TO SAVE CITY**_

 _July 23_ _rd_ _, 1998 by Alyssa Ashcroft_

 _In another Press Conference this afternoon that presented the first good news in Raccoon City in what feels like months, RPD Chief Brian Irons announced that STARS, the Special Tactics and Rescue Service that replaced SWAT back in 91', is preparing to launch an assault against the suspected perpetrators, details and time of this upcoming strike to remain secret so as to not endanger the lives of the participating Officers._

 _Saying that they were unable to go into any more specifics, Captains Albert Wesker and Enrico Marini, field commanders of the unit's two teams, have stated that if all goes well, the case of the Cannibal Murders will be closed soon, and that residents of the forest zone will be able to return to their homes as soon as possible. 'STARS is made up of the best and brightest that the RPD has to offer', Captain Marini said just as the conference was ending. 'An announcement will be made once the operation is over'._

 _Reception of this statement has been overwhelmingly positive among surveyed citizens of Raccoon City, with most confident that the nightmare plaguing the mountains will be over soon. More details on this story as information becomes available._

On the second floor of the Raccoon City Police Department, back around what was considered one of the lesser used corridors between the old library and the evidence room, was a single wooden door, pretty ordinary by appearances. On the wall next to it was a sign that read _S.T.A.R.S. Special Tactics and Rescue Service_ , and inside was the nerve-center of the elite unit; a single long rectangular room with desks, some shared and others single, and also lockers for storing equipment.

A large communications console dominated the wall farthest from the door, and on the other side hung awards and trophies that had been won by members of the unit during yearly competitions. Other than that, the office was filled with standard equipment; coffee maker, printer/fax machine, computers, and also the same picture of both teams that was in the Chief's office. Lastly there was a document on Captain Wesker's desk, a personnel roster with detailed files on everyone involved.

 **SPECIAL TACTICS AND RESCUE SERVICE PERSONNEL**

 **ALPHA TEAM**

Captain Albert Wesker: Department/Team Leader

Sergeant Bernard Burton: Heavy Weapons

Corporal Christopher Redfield: Pointman

Corporal Jillian Valentine: B&E Specialist

Officer Joseph Frost: Communications

Officer Bradley Vickers: Pilot/Rear Security

 **BRAVO TEAM**

Captain Enrico Marini: Team Leader

Sergeant Kenneth Sullivan: Pointman

Corporal Forest Speyer: Sharpshooter

Corporal Edward Dewey: Pilot/Rear Security

Officer Richard Aiken: Communications

Rookie Officer Rebecca Chambers: Medic

Of the dozen members of the unit, there were only a few that concerned Captain Albert Wesker enough for him to keep his own notes, such as Redfield, who had joined the RPD after getting thrown out of the US Air Force for reasons that he kept vague. Good pilot, though, with only a single living family member, a younger sister named Claire… pretty little thing, currently out of the city to attend college. Redfield was a bit of a hot-head, as well, easily angered by anything he considered to be _not right_ , whether it actually was or not.

Valentine's juvenile criminal history was already known, and aside from watching that no equipment went missing, Wesker's concerns ended there, unlike the ones he had for Officer Vickers. The man was a coward, plain and simple, a timid little man who nearly jumped at his own shadow, but his skills as a pilot were unmatched, even by Redfield. So long as the little… _Chickenheart_ as he was known to the others, was kept away from the action, he was fine… perfect, since he never had to leave the helicopter.

The rest of his team were fine as far as he was concerned; Sergeant Burton was a responsible family man and a decent leader, while Frost was… annoyingly friendly… with everyone. Captain Marini's team was his own business as far as Wesker was concerned, with the exception of the new girl, Chambers, who appeared to be getting close to Officer Aiken… a little too close for Wesker's high professional standards.

However, the office was currently empty, since the room was not large enough to accommodate the whole department at once, and so the meeting was to take place inside the Press Conference room on the first floor. The room itself was pretty far out of the way, down several corridors and in the back, mostly so that important announcements wouldn't be disturbed by any commotion that might be caused by the day to day workings of a police station, and was more than big enough for everyone sitting in the seats in front of the podium.

"Man, look at this guy." Joseph Frost said, tossing another peanut into the air, which the long haired Forest Speyer caught in his mouth. "He's like a damn dog, he _never_ misses… hey, Barry, catch one."

He tossed one more to Speyer, who easily caught it, and then one to Burton, who twitched and bit at the air as the peanut bounced off his nose. This started some laughter from the others, along with a random comment that _he was the worst dog ever_ , but then everything started to calm down when Captain Wesker stepped up to the podium. Even in the less than perfect lighting of this room, he never took off his sunglasses, but that didn't stop him from beginning the presentation, starting with a map of Raccoon City being pulled up onto the wall behind him with a projector.

"I don't need to tell you why you've been gathered here." The Captain began. "What I do need to say is that the blockades surrounding the forest zone have _not_ been an act of desperation, but a well-conceived test. With police surrounding the edges of the forest zone, there has been absolutely no _cannibalistic_ activity in any of the surrounding areas, meaning that we have the criminals responsible trapped."

This test had narrowed down the possible search field for the cannibals' hideout, which _had_ to be inside the quarantined area, and now through careful research it had been narrowed down even further. A heavily forested part of the quarantined zone, which hadn't been able to be properly surveyed by an aerial photographer that had been secretly contracted the previous week, left it as the only option for the cannibals to be hiding, but unfortunately… that means that the place had to be manually searched.

"At sundown tonight, Bravo Team will be inserted into the Quarantine Zone." Wesker continued, pointing at them, and then back to the map. "Once on the ground, Captain Marini will lead his team on a quick search, and attempt to capture the criminals _if possible_. Constant radio contact is _essential_ for this operation, and if for some reason Bravo Team gets into trouble, Alpha Team will be standing by to assist."

"Don't bother changing out of your _PJ's_ Alpha Team." Kenneth Sullivan laughed. "Don't worry, we'll tell you all about how us badasses saved the day, when we get back."

"All right, that's enough." Captain Marini interrupted, stopping the laughter and insults that followed. "This is serious business, and everyone is gonna be watching, so the reputation of STARS is on the line. If we screw this up, our asses are grass, get it? If we make _one_ mistake, we're gonna be hung out to dry, feel me? We drop the ball, our pants are gonna be dancing with figs… am I _clear_?"

"Yeah, everything except the… pants, figs thing." Edward Dewey replied as everyone started to snicker. "So let's hear it for the man whose gonna get _all_ the credit tomorrow, Captain Marini!"

Everyone in the room cheered except for Wesker, and Marini was laughing as well when the members of Bravo Team picked him up over their shoulders, now carrying him around the room in a big circle as if he were come kind of conquering hero, stopping and setting him down after reaching Joseph Frost, who was holding up a styrofoam coffee cup as if it were some kind of trophy.

"As Mayor is this God-awful city." He said in a bad impression of the Michael Warren. "I want to present Enrico Marini with this award for doing _nothing_ and taking _all_ the credit. Now I'm gonna get on my knees and kiss the asses of _every_ member of STARS for saving our worthless hides… except for Barry Burton's, because his is overly _large_."

During this whole display, Captain Wesker hadn't moved or said a word until they were finished. He wasn't angry, though, since such displays of merriment and satire were common among each department of the RPD, and actually helped everyone be able to work together better. It did end, however, a few moments later when everyone had returned to their seats, and now it really _was_ time for them to put their serious faces on. Everyone in the room knew just how dangerous the mission tonight was, and as much as they joked around… the city really _was_ watching.

"I suggest that all of you get some rest." Wesker said calmly, almost solemnly. "Equipment draw, and final mission brief will be at 19:00 hours… Bravo Team moves out exactly one hour after that… enjoy the day, everyone… tonight, we save Raccoon City."


	3. Chapter 3 Search and Rescue

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Three: Search and Rescue**

At just a little after 8:30 that evening, the STARS Bravo Team, all geared up and fully armed, got into their helicopter and took off just as the sun was setting over Raccoon City. This left the members from Alpha Team, fully equipped and on standby, to sit around the communications system inside the STARS office in case of trouble. So far everything was going well, with Corporal Dewey expertly flying the team away from the city, and toward the quarantined zone of the Arklay Mountains, where the cannibals who were terrorizing the people would finally get what was coming to them.

" _Alpha Team, we've got a problem, here_." The voice of Captain Marini said while an alarm went off in the background. " _Some kind of engine trouble… black smoke from the rotors... Dewey, can you stabilize us_?"

" _No, everything's locking up_!" The pilot exclaimed, more nervously than his Captain. " _I have to set her down, Captain… I'm gonna land in that clearing_!"

Suddenly the radio went to static, siting another possible technical failure, but that made no sense to Chris Redfield, since all of their weapons and equipment had just been inspected that afternoon. Everything had checked out, so what could have possibly gone wrong with Bravo Team's helicopter? Well, whatever the cause of the problem was, it looked like it was up to Alpha Team to go in and pull them out.

Everyone already had all of their things ready, so after not being able to get them back on the radio after a couple more tries, the whole team, led by Wesker, left the office in a hurry. Running down the corridors, and then crossing the second floor walkway above the RPD's main hall, not stopping until they reached the door to the precinct's heliport. Like with every mission that they had been on standby for, their pilot, Brad Vickers, was asleep in the cockpit of their helicopter… but awoken when Wesker smacked him in the back of the head as they all climbed into the back.

Sort of like the magic hat being placed on Frosty the Snowman's head, that smack had brought Vickers to life, and now the pilot reflexively started pushing buttons to start up the helicopter, even before being fully awake. Soon the rotors began to turn, and everyone strapped in while Vickers put on his helmet, signaling to the precinct that they were taking off, before Redfield felt the helicopter lift off the ground.

Leaving the RPD behind, they continued to gain altitude until the helicopter was soaring above the headlight-filled city streets, soon passing over the downtown shopping district, and the zoo as they continued north. Wesker continued trying to raise Bravo Team on the radio as they flew over the hospital a few minutes later, but there was still nothing but static even by the time that they crossed the city limits, and reached the bottom of the Arklay Mountains.

"All right, everyone keep your eyes open." Wesker ordered, pointing to the different small windows. "Enrico said that had a lot of black smoke, so look for that if you can't see any flares or anything. Barry, keep trying that radio."

"STARS Bravo Team, come in." Sergeant Burton said into the receiver as everyone looked out the windows. "This is Sergeant Barry Burton of Alpha Team, calling any members of Bravo Team, come in."

Now moving over the trees, and gradually up the mountain along the same route that their compatriots were supposed to follow, the full moon was just starting to rise when the helicopter reached the top of the first peak, shining a pale silver light onto the forest below. Each member of Alpha Team was looking out their windows, but Redfield was starting to get a pit in the bottom of his stomach when he heard Burton repeat the radio call… to be met with static once again.

"Hey!" Joseph Frost exclaimed, hitting Wesker on the back. "Hey, Captain Wesker, look over there! No, over _there_!"

Almost pulling their Captain backwards out of his seat so that he could see out the small circular window, Frost pointed across the trees, to the start of a large clearing in the forest where a trail of black smoke was rising into the air. Once he was able to get back into his seat, the Captain patted Vickers on the shoulder, pointing over to the clearing, and then everyone leaned the opposite way as the helicopter made a hard turn.

"Hey, Jill." Redfield whispered, leaning over toward her. "How can Wesker see with those sunglasses on?"

"I don't know." Valentine replied. "Maybe he's got some kind of extreme _photo-sensitivity_ , or something."

Whatever the reason for Wesker to wear sunglasses all the time, they didn't seem to be hindering him in the slightest, neither in pointing out the black smoke to the pilot, nor in chambering a round in his _Beretta 9mm_ pistol when the rotors slowed so that they could land. There was a slight tremor in the vehicle when it touched down, and the members of Alpha Team wasted no time in getting out of their seats. Sliding open the door, they stepped out into a misty clearing, filled with knee-high grass, but… with no sign of Bravo Team.

"Where is everyone?" Frost asked, turning on the flashlight mounted onto his _Remington Model 1100_ shotgun. "You think they went off to search or…

"Turn that off, Frost." Burton whispered harshly, clicking off the flashlight. "You want the whole world to see our every move?"

"Quiet, all of you." Wesker ordered calmly. "This place is to be considered hostile territory, understand? Now everyone form a defensive perimeter… Redfield, go check out Bravo Team's helicopter."

Reacting to his orders, everyone lined up to form a kind of wall that let them both defend their own helicopter, while also being able to cover Redfield while he went to check out the other one. The engine had stopped long ago, it seemed, but the back door was halfway open, allowing him to easily get inside. The vehicle was a derelict; no weapons or people inside as he moved forward… at least not in the back.

For a moment the young man felt hopeful when he spotted the figure of Edward Dewey still strapped into the pilot's seat, but then hope turned into horror when he turned on the flashlight to check him out, and found blood splattered all over the controls. The radio and panels were destroyed as if they had been both shot up and slashed apart by something, and then he got a good look at Dewey… holding a pistol in his hand, and with several long cuts and… _animal bite marks_ across his neck and torso.

The smell was awful, so bad that he coughed a bit while moving back toward the exit, and as bad as the news about Dewey was, it was a relief to be able to get back into the fresh air, even if it was just to report back to Wesker. The only thing he could say was that it had to be some kind of animal… maybe a coyote or a bear climbed in when the others left, and got him… well, what else could it have been? Humans, no matter _how_ deranged and murderous, did _not_ have claws like that.

"Hey, shut up." Frost suddenly whispered harshly, stepping away from the group. "Did you guys hear that? There's something over here?"

"Frost, get back on the line." Burton warned, getting more irritated. "Frost, get back here, _now_!"

But the younger member of the team just kept going, taking three more steps before stopping, and then clicking on his flashlight… just in time for the others to see a quick moving figure leap toward him. From the shape of it, the thing must have been a coyote, but whatever it was, it tackled Frost to the ground, making the shotgun fall from his hands. The animal snarled and barked as it bit down onto Frost's arm, but Redfield drew his pistol and took aim while moving toward him.

 _Bang! Bang!_ Flashes of light and noise lit up the surrounding area as both bullets slammed into the… dog? Whatever it was, the four legged beast yelped before falling over onto its side after the second bullet struck it in the head, allowing Redfield to run over to help him. Frost was cut pretty badly across the arm, and it looked like he had twisted his ankle, but he was alive.

"All right, come on, man." Redfield said, picking him up while the others covered them. "Let's get you back to the helicopter, you're gonna be…

One second he was picking up Joseph Frost, and then in a flash of movement his teammate was literally ripped away from him as another dog leapt onto the younger man's back from behind, this time biting down into the back of his neck. Drawing his pistol again, Redfield was about to shoot, when he froze after finally getting a good look at this… _thing_. It was a dog, or might have once been; looking like it had been completely skinned, exposing muscle and bone underneath, and… one of its eyes was hanging out.

Frost's next scream made him snap out of it, pulling his pistol and taking aim… only to have to dive out of the way when _another_ dog leapt at him from out of nowhere. Gunshots now echoed throughout the clearing, meaning that the rest of Alpha Team was coming to his rescue, but… but why was the dog after him not being shot? Scooting away from the skinned beast, the young man had a second to look over at the others, to see that they were in fact shooting at dogs… just not his.

Now all with flashlights on, he could see that there were more of these skinned animals coming out of the mist, and this moment of hesitation might have let the dog after him strike… if Valentine hadn't shot it at the last second. Helping the young man to his feet, the two of them ran back toward the others… Frost's screams had stopped, and three dogs were literally pulling his body apart, while a blast from Burton's powerful _.357 Colt Python_ revolver split one of the creatures in half.

"Fall back to the helicopter!" Wesker ordered, all of them backing away as more movement was seen in the tall grass. "There's nothing we can…

Suddenly there was a thump as one of the skinned dogs leapt up onto the helicopter, right in front of the windshield, and the high pitch shriek let out from Vickers was so loud that it drowned out all other noises… until the rotors, which had been spinning on a slow standby mode quickly picked up speed. The animal fell off the vehicle as it lifted off into the air, which was good for their pilot, but… wait, why was he still lifting off?

"Wait, no!" Redfield yelled, running toward it and jumping up to grab the landing strut. "Brad, no, don't leave us, you fucking chicken!"

He had only been able to grab onto the strut with one hand, and slipped off just before rotors accelerated, causing him to fall to the ground while the helicopter flew off into the sky… leaving the rest of Alpha Team in the clearing as even _more_ movement was spotted in the tall grass.


	4. Chapter 4 The Mansion

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Four: The Mansion**

It was hard for Jill Valentine to believe that the helicopter was flying away into the night sky, stranding them there with a pack of rabid dogs closing in as if this were all some kind of bad dream. However, once the vehicle was gone, and its rotors could no longer be heard, the reality of her situation became clear… she and what was left of Alpha Team were stranded in that clearing, high up in the Arklay Mountains with no one left to back them up, since they were using both of the RPD's helicopters… and the animals were slowly closing in.

"Stay together in tight formation." Wesker calmly said as everyone moved closer. "Slowly start moving away from the pack as a single unit, and only shoot the ones who try to get around us."

The fact that her Captain was remaining so calm at a time like this was amazing to her, since Valentine herself was on the verge of panicking and shooting as many of the rabid dogs as she could, especially when she had seen how awful they looked with patches of their skin missing like that. But so far the strategy was working, with herself, Redfield, Burton, and Wesker slowly moving in the opposite direction from the animals.

"All right, we're not dead, so now what?" Burton asked, making everyone jump when he had to shoot one of the dogs that tried to circle them. "It's a _long_ walk back to Raccoon City from here, and I don't know about you guys, but I left most of my ammo on the helicopter."

"Stay calm, Barry, I have a plan, as always." The Captain explained. "Now, I want everyone to pick a target, and on my signal we all shoot them at the same time… and then we run."

"Wait, we're gonna just _run_ for it?" Redfield asked, clearly skeptical of the plan. "We're in the middle of _nowhere_ , Wesker, and have you ever tried to outrun a dog before?"

Valentine certainly shared his doubts, and Burton looked like he felt the same way, but in response their Captain simply said that they needed to trust him. The only other option was to keep slowly walking and picking off stragglers until they ran out of ammo, so everyone took Wesker's lead; each choosing the animal that was closest to them, and on his signal the clearing was illuminated in a flash of light and noise.

"Run!" Wesker yelled, taking a second shot before turning heel.

Everyone in STARS was an experienced marksman, so every shot that was fired was followed by a sharp _yelp_ as one of the deranged animals fell over. However, there were plenty more behind them, and even though some of the animals stopped to… eat the fallen ones, the members of Alpha Team still had to sprint with all their strength to keep ahead of the ones chasing them. Of course, now that they were blindly running across the clearing and trying not to die, instead of walking slowly and trying not to die… where in the hell were they running to?

"There!" Redfield suddenly shouted from up ahead, being the fastest runner. "There's something up ahead! Come on, run!"

Another loud bang echoed through the clearing as Burton fired another shot, but Valentine was pretty sure he hit a nearby tree instead of the animal he was aiming it. The big man was also the oldest member of the team, and the slowest runner, not that Valentine was exactly a marathon sprinter herself… but the snarls and barking of the dogs was doing a good job motivating her.

Then she saw it; some kind of building up ahead, like… a house, well… a really big house, only partially visible against the mist and surrounding trees… but there was light coming through some of the windows, meaning that maybe someone was inside. Without their radios, which had _also_ been left on the helicopter, they would need to find another radio or a phone, or something to contact the RPD. After all, it wasn't like anyone was going to come looking for them, with the roads being barricaded on all sides, and all.

Redfield reached the door first, and Valentine's heart skipped a beat when it opened after he tried the knob, meaning that there was a chance to get away. The dogs were right on her and Burton's heels, and the gunshots from Redfield and Wesker were only doing so much to deter them since they couldn't shoot too close to their teammates. However, with each step the door got closer, until she finally passed through the archway; falling to the shiny floor and sliding a little while Wesker slammed the door shut in the dogs' faces.

Muffled growling and snarling came from the other side as some of the animals ran into the solid wood barrier, while others scratched at it for a while, but they didn't seem to be able to get in once the knob and deadbolt were locked into place. Well, it was pretty safe to say that it was too dangerous to go back outside, but Valentine couldn't help but wonder what this place was, when she finally got to take a look around after Redfield helped her up.

"Jesus, look at this place." Burton commented, looking around. "But what is all this… I mean, where are we?"

"Certainly not your typical house, is it?" Wesker replied. "Well, whatever this place is, it allowed us to escape from those animals, and it would see that we're safe… for the moment."

This one room in itself was massive, bigger than most houses, and lit up by expensive looking chandeliers. The floor was a highly polished tile that reflected their images as they moved around, but from the way that the place was setup, it seemed that this was just some kind of main hall of an even larger building… if that was possible. There were doors on both sides of the room, and even more on the second floor, accessible by a grand, carpeted staircase that led to the walkway above.

Since the danger was over for the time being, it gave the members of Alpha Team a chance to catch their breath, while also taking an inventory of their weapons and equipment. None of them had been wounded during the escape, and they had basic things like water canteens on their belts, and a survival knife strapped to their ankle for if things ever got _really_ hairy… not that any of them wanted to be dependent on such a weapon.

Unfortunately, there were no radios, and aside from the shotgun that Frost had been carrying, which was obviously unreachable, all of the heavy weapons had been left on the helicopter… a Rookie mistake, to be sure, but how were any of them supposed to know that their chicken-shit pilot was going to bug-out at the first sign of trouble? The good news was that all of them had a standard issue Beretta 9mm pistol, but not a lot of ammo to go around.

"Well, I've got _this_." Burton said, opening the chamber of his magnum. "But I got less ammo for it than I do for my Beretta."

The deranged animals outside were one thing, but there was also the matter to worry about that they had set out to deal with… Bravo Team was still missing, and the killers responsible for the Cannibal Murders were still out there. This made a knot form in Valentine's stomach when she thought that maybe this was where the killers lived… but on second thought, she didn't imagine this as the kind of place where people who ate human flesh would be hanging out.

 _Bang_! The sudden, unmistakable sound of a distant gunshot reached Valentine's ears, making her and the rest of the team turn toward a set of double doors to their immediate left. Then the silence returned, and suddenly this place didn't feel so safe. But who had fired that shot? Frost was dead, and Vickers was long gone, so was it maybe… one of the others from Bravo Team? Had they also sought shelter in this place after being forced down?

"Redfield, go check it out." Wesker calmly ordered. "We'll stay here and secure the exit; report back _immediately_ if you find anything."

"Captain Wesker, you can't send Chris all by himself." Valentine argued, stopping Redfield when he started toward the double doors. "We don't know anything about this place, or who fired that shot, so… I'm going, too."

The Captain sighed, but relented, telling them to be careful and to stay alert, before the two of them headed toward the double doors. It was nice to know that Burton and Wesker were covering the exit in case anything happened, but truthfully Valentine didn't want any of them to split up at all. She had a really bad feeling about this place, even when Redfield slowly opened the door, allowing them to enter some kind of dining hall.

Just as elaborately decorated as the main hall, this long rectangular room was dominated by a polished, solid wood table that was longer than the office suits back at the RPD, and on the walls were expensive looking artworks. _Tick-tock-tick-tock_ , a large grandfather clock on the right side of the room was ticking so loudly that it echoed throughout the vacant room, but there was a fire going in the stone fireplace at the far end… so it couldn't have been _that_ vacant.

"There's only one other way out of here." Redfield whispered, pointing to the small door near the fireplace. "I'll go first, and you cover me."

Valentine nodded, taking a position behind him while Redfield put his ear up to the door, and he must not have heard anything, because he very slowly and quietly turned the knob a moment later. There was a soft, drawn out squeak of the hinges when he pulled the door open, and both of them actually sighed with relief when they were greeted by another hallway that junctioned off to the left and right. The lighting was different there; provided by wall-mounted single bulb fixtures that left a lot of shadows, and a kind of tacky, wallpaper on the walls that kind of felt like stepping back into the 70's.

"Doors, and more hallways." Valentine whispered as they stepped onto the hardwood floor. "Just how _big_ is this place?"

He didn't have an answer, just kind of looking down the hallway in each direction, before spotting a door right across that had not been closed all the way. There was only a small crack between it and the frame, but not enough for Redfield to be able to see what was beyond, so he was forced to push this one open as well… revealing yet _another_ hallway. Forget being a house, this place was the size of a full out _resort_.

"This is just getting ridiculous." Redfield replied, pushing it the rest of the way open, and walking through. "Come on, let's see where this one goes."

He stepped through, and Valentine started to follow, but stopped for a moment when she thought that she heard a noise coming from down the hallway she was standing in. She wasn't sure what it was, or even if she had really heard it, but suddenly there was a soft _click_ when the door Redfield had gone through closed on itself. Not wanting to get separated, she turned the knob, but it wouldn't budge, as if it had locked itself.

"Jill?" He called form the other side, rattling the knob. "Hey, Jill, what happened? The door's locked."

"I don't know, but there's no keyhole on this side." She replied, trying to stay quiet while looking in both directions. "This door is solid wood, I don't think I can shoot through it… is there another way around?"

There wasn't one that he could see, at least not without leaving the immediate area, so with no other options, that was what he did… the sound of his footsteps quickly vanishing as he walked away, leaving Valentine all by herself… and with that sound coming from the end of the hallway once again.


	5. Chapter 5 Itchy Tasty

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Five: Itchy Tasty**

Now that he had been forced to separate from Valentine, Redfield turned away from the door, aiming his pistol down the latest corridor as he started walking. The hardwood floors of this part of the mansion creaked so loudly that they seemed to be trying to announce his presence with each step, to anything within earshot, regardless of how slowly or carefully the young man stepped… and now it sounded like it was starting to rain outside.

A distant rumble was heard, followed by a flash of lightning coming through the large window at the end of the hall, and then falling water began to hit the glass, making their situation seem even drearier and more foreboding. Like the other hallway where he had left Valentine, this place was lit up with wall-mounted single bulb fixtures, but spaced out so far that there were sections of darkness that were… bigger than he would have liked.

The color of the walls had changed again, too, still using a really old kind of textured wallpaper from the 70's, but this time a kind of blueish green. So, what, was every big section of this place color coated or something? That would have been nice as far as trying to make a mental map of everywhere Redfield had been, but right now the most important thing was finding a way back around to Valentine… especially since the people committing the Cannibal Murders had yet to be found.

Two doors came into view at the same time, one on the right and one on the left, and it appeared that the corridor he was in turned left and right at the window he had seen earlier, so basically there was still _a lot_ of ground to cover in this place. Another flash of lightning coming through the window, accompanied by thunder and harder falling rain… okay, no more running around at random, the young man thought, looking at his nearest two choices… so was it to be left or right first?

Both doors looked exactly the same, solid wood with a brass knob, and just like with the last doors that he used, there was no sound at all coming from either when he put his ear up to each of them. Finally deciding to just let chance decide, Redfield reached into his pocket and took out a quarter, flipping it into the air while deciding that the door on the left was going to be _heads_. Of course, the quarter landed on _tails_ , so he put the coin back into his pocket before walking up to the door on the right.

"Okay." The young man whispered to himself, slowly turning the knob until it opened. "One… two… _three_!"

Pulling open the door, and rushing into the room with pistol ready, Redfield stopped in his tracks, gasping in fright as he was left face to face with a huge, growling animal that was about to leap at… wait a second, no… it was a _statue_. The room itself was a little half-bath; a small light fixture mounted above the sink and mirror that were on one side, a toilet on the other, and a large stone carving of an angry looking tiger set into the middle of a kind of pedestal that was sunken into the wall at the center.

Why on Earth would anyone want something like _that_ hovering over them while they were doing their business? The young man wondered, taking a quick look around for anything useful. However, aside from finding that this place was almost out of toilet paper, and reading a small plaque on the tiger statue talking about tigers having different colored eyes, or something like that, this room had been a waste of time as far as he was concerned… but, at least now he knew where the bathroom was.

So it was back to the other side of the hall, allowing the bathroom door to shut behind him as he walked up to it, once again quietly turning the knob. The room beyond was much darker than the hallways or bathroom had been; illuminated only by a pair of desk lamps that barely gave off enough light to see the features of the room, even though there was one on each side of the bed. The main light of the room must have burned out or something, because nothing happened when he flipped the switch, but it was pretty obvious that this was someone's bedroom.

A lingering smell in the air, a quite _unpleasant_ one, made the young man breathe mostly through his mouth as he moved across the floor, but after looking through a nearby cabinet that was full of clothes, and using the small flashlight on his pistol to check under the bed, there was still nothing of interest to be found. There was a desk and what looked like a door to a closet around the other side, so the young man made his way around the bed, planning on checking out the closet first… but then stopping when he spotted a book.

Not like a regular book, but smaller and leather bound, with the name _Eric Thompson_ written in plain view… a diary? Now starting to feel like he was finally catching a break, Redfield picked up the book, holding it closer to the small lamp while opening it up to the first page, which was dated the first of January of this year… must have been a Christmas present or something. The first entry was about getting transferred from _Chicago_ to _Raccoon City_ along with some others, but nothing helpful, so he turned to a later entry.

 _April 3rd, 1998: The higher-ups told us we can't go into the city, at least for a while until things cool back down. Turns out some of the people who got killed by the possible subjects were some cop's family, and now they're starting to buzz around the forest. I don't see why that affects my weekend trips into the city, though… unless that asshole Keith found out just how hard I plowed his niece last time._

Some of the things mentioned in that entry were a bit confusing, such as possible subjects, and the mention of the RPD's earlier investigations into the Cannibal Murders last spring, but there was nothing helpful in the next whole bunch of entries. For the rest of April the writer talked mostly about sexual encounters with a girl named _Becky_ in Raccoon City, and she must have been that guy, Keith's niece, because a few of the entries state how badly he wanted to rub it in Keith's face.

 _May 9th, 1998: Research is stepping up, so no trips to the city for a while… oh well, Becky could use a break… fuck you, Keith, I'm marrying your niece, so suck it. Spent tonight playing poker with the guys instead, at least it passes the time. Steve from Research really cleared us out, tonight, probably cheated… asshole. I can't prove it, though, but it's not like there's a lot you can do with money around this place, anyway._

 _May 10th, 1998: I wish I could talk to Becky about the things going on in this place, because sometimes you just have to unload, but that would probably get both of us killed. The higher-ups gave me something new to take care of today, and I can't help but wonder where they come up with this stuff. Damn thing was all teeth and claws, looking like a… I don't know, a damn gorilla… frog… thing. I fed it a pig, and the thing was kind of… playing with it… ripped off the legs before starting to eat… I need a drink._

 _May 11th, 1998: Fucking Scott from Security woke me up in the middle of the night, looking like a God damn spaceman in that protective suit, and then he tossed another one at me, and told me to put it on until further notice. Apparently there's been some kind of accident down in the labs, and you know what, I knew this was going to happen. The way they push those guys down in Research, it's inhumane, and now I get to sweat my ass off in this suit for who even knows how long?_

 _May 12th, 1998: Fuck this place, fuck this suit, fuck my grimy, itchy skin, fuck Keith, fuck the higher-ups, and you know what, fuck the dogs, too. Looking at me all funny and growling like I'm a stranger… fine, let's see just how much food a stranger give you, you ungrateful mutts. It's so hard to do anything in this suit, and I'm not even gonna describe how we have to use the bathroom._

 _May 13th, 1998: Good news, they say I don't have to wear this fucking suit anymore, but my back is all swollen and itchy. Went down to the infirmary, and they just put this big Band-Aid looking thing over it, and told me not to touch it or scratch it. Yeah right, my whole God damn body itches all over like I'm on drugs or something, and I'm exhausted. Whatever, they can say whatever they want, and put down whatever rules they want, I'm going to bed._

 _May 14th, 1998: I feel like ass; got another huge blister on my foot, but we've all still got jobs to do, so I finally made my way back down to the kennels again. Dogs were all quiet today, some of them looking like they're getting the mange or something, but that's probably because I didn't fed them for days. Animals remember things like that, you know, and now a bunch of them are missing, probably escaped because I stopped feeding them. I don't care, but if anyone find out, it's my ass._

 _May 16th, 1998: Still on lockdown, and it's serious this time, they say a guy from Research tried to escape, but he uh… didn't make it. I'm so hot and itchy and sweating all the time, I scratched my arm against doctor's orders, and I shit you not a piece of my skin fell off. I'm getting scared, no one will tell us what's going on, and I just want to see Becky again. Oh God, my head is killing me._

 _May 19 maybe 20? Fever gone but so itchy scratch more skin fall off don't wanna leave room so tired so hungry today eat dog food hard to think miss Becky love Becky hate Keith stupid face so itchy hurts but gotta scratch Scott came into room hate his face too killed him so tasty whole place is quiet no one around need to scratch more skin falling off blood running out eat Scott so tasty._

 _22 25 4 Itchy… Tasty._

To say that Redfield was shocked and confused by the things he had just read would be an understatement, with the last few pages of the diary reading like a mix between a confession letter and watching someone slowly losing their mind, so how was he supposed to know how much of it was real, and what was some kind of paranoid delusion? Setting the small book back down, the young man received a partial answer to this question when a noise came from behind.

Suddenly the closet's double doors were shoved open, and a shadowy figure emerged; snarling and groaning with both arms reached out to grab Redfield as it quickly shambled across the floor toward him.


	6. Chapter 6 Vanishing STARS

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Six: Vanishing STARS**

Okay, time to be on guard, Valentine thought, putting her back against the locked door that Redfield had gone through, and keeping her pistol ready while taking another look down each direction of the hallway. One way led down to a couple more side doors before ending at one that probably led to yet another hallway, while the other didn't pass any more doors, but rounded a corner where that scratching sound had been coming from.

Well, now that the young woman was alone, she figured that the best way to go about things was to check out the main area she was in before trying any rooms, so Valentine silently headed toward the corner that she couldn't see around. There must have been a nearby window, because there was a flash of what looked like lightning, followed by the distant rumbling of thunder, before water started to hit glass… yet that scratching sound persisted.

There was definitely something moving around up ahead, the scratching sound now sounding kind of wet as she pressed her back up against the wall right before the hallway turned. So the young woman took a deep breath, before stepping into some kind of small sitting room… and freezing in place at what she saw. Aside from the way she had come in, the only way out of the room was the nearby window where the rain was coming down outside, and the walls were decorated with more expensive artwork, while a lavish set of couches lined the walls opposite of the window, with a small coffee table in the middle… however…

"Oh, my God." Valentine whispered, eyes wide and mouth running dry.

In the middle of the floor, right next to the coffee table, were two men, one of them lying motionless on his back, while the other knelt down over him. The wet scratching sound, which made the young woman almost vomit when the realization of what it was, and the smell hit her at the same time, was the kneeling man repeatedly sinking his teeth into the other man's neck until… until Valentine nearly fainted when his head fell off. The man on the floor had… his head had… fallen off and… rolled toward her.

Fighting back the urge to lose her dinner all over the floor, the young woman also struggled to even take a breath, resulting in a gasp that was much louder than she wanted it to be, when two significant things happened. First, as the head rolled toward her, showing that half of the face had been chewed off, she recognized the half that was left. It was _Kenneth Sullivan_ from Bravo Team, and the second significant thing that happened, as her compatriot's blood pooled around him… was that the kneeling man noticed her.

Slowly turning his head to look at her, and then standing up, Valentine wanted to shoot him, and knew that she probably should, but what had happened to Sullivan, and after getting a good look at this… _thing_ … the young woman found that all she could do was back away. His hairless skin was pale and cracked, with eyes so heavily glazed over that they almost appeared to be pure white, while his mouth and shirt were covered with blood for obvious reasons. Letting out a groan as he walked toward her, more blood dripped out of his mouth, over cracked, yellowed teeth and partially missing lips, the young woman cried out when the back of her foot hit the corner of the wall, causing her to fall onto her rear.

"Oh, shit." She managed to breathlessly whisper, watching blood and saliva drip from the deranged man's mouth. "No, no, no."

Now snarling as he lurched toward her, this deranged person threw himself toward the ground, and would have landed on top of her, if Valentine hadn't managed to break out of her paralysis just in time to roll out of the way. There wasn't much room to maneuver, and as soon as she rolled into the wall, the young woman had to kick her legs furiously to keep the deranged man from grabbing onto her ankles. Letting out a short scream when his fingers touched her, Valentine kicked him in the head several times while scrambling to escape, and nearly falling on her face when running as she tried to get up.

If she hadn't grabbed onto the door that led back into the dining hall while trying to catch herself, she would have missed it completely, and they the young woman would have been in real trouble, since she didn't even know if any of the doors down the other way were unlocked. So turning the knob and pushing the door open, Valentine kind of fell onto her hands and knees to crawl through as the deranged man was getting to his feet, and kicking the door shut, before screaming again when she crawled right into someone's legs who was standing there.

"Jill?" Burton asked, with a kind of confused expression on his face as he looked down at her. "What's going on… where's Chris?"

She started trying to explain to him what had happened, but couldn't get anything out a few fragments, before the door behind her was pushed open. Burton had the same kind of reaction as she did, gasping with disbelief at what was now coming toward them, and in the better illumination of the dining hall, the deranged man looked even more frightening. The deranged man groaned and reached toward the two of them with both outstretched arms, but thankfully the big man's reaction was a bit better than hers was.

 _Boom_! The dining hall echoed with a noise that drowned out all others for a moment as Burton took out his magnum revolver, and pulled the trigger. Blood splattered across the door behind the deranged man as a good chunk of the top of his head just vanished, causing him to stumble sideways before collapsing to the floor. The sounds of the fireplace and the grandfather clock now reasserted themselves, and with the immediate danger over, Valentine was able to get to her feet, while Burton stood over the body to get a better look.

"What the hell, Jill?" The big man asked, putting an extra bullet into the cylinder. "What was _wrong_ with this guy… where's Chris?"

"Chris and I got separated before…" The young woman replied, trailing off for a second. "Barry, Kenneth's dead… this man, he… he was _eating_ him… we… we gotta report this to Wesker."

Burton nodded, and then the two of them quickly moved back across the dining hall, to the other end where the double doors were, and pushing them open to find… no one. Aside from the sound of rain and thunder outside, the main hall of the mansion was silent, and there was no trace of their Captain anywhere. The walkway upstairs could be seen when the big man moved closer to the front door, and Valentine was able to take a look back around behind the stairs as well, but Wesker was just _gone_.

"Wesker! Wesker, where are you?!" Burton called, his voice echoing. "I only left him alone for a minute to check on you and Chris… where could he have gone?"

"This doesn't make any God damn sense." Valentine replied, unable to hide her frustration. "Wesker should know better than to just run off by himself, and now with Chris missing, too…

Whatever the next move was to be, it was imperative that the two of them stuck together from that point on, especially if there more of those deranged people wandering the halls. Could that person who was eating Kenneth have been one of the ones responsible for the Cannibal Murders? The young woman didn't want to go back to that side of the house, but if Redfield was still trying to find his way around, he needed to be warned about what was happening.

"All right, let's go see if we can get to him." The big man said, taking one last look for Wesker. "Maybe one of those other doors in the hallway leads around… now that we dealt with that… _person_."

From now on there would be no passing through doors alone, and they stuck with this while moving back into the dining hall, and into the hallway where Sullivan's body had been found. Burton had known him for a lot longer than Valentine or Redfield had, and was visibly distraught by the death of his friend, letting out a long sigh before having to look away. Shaking his head while starting toward the other end of the hallway, the big man seemed to get upset when the door at the far end wouldn't open, letting out an angry growl while kicking it… but it still didn't open.

"Let's try _this_ door." Valentine suggested, trying to calm him down. "Barry, come on, we've got to stay focused."

Burton apologized and quickly seemed to calm down, but the young woman couldn't blame him for being upset, especially after how badly things had gone since leaving the RPD. Hopefully the big man's mood would be improved when this… rather elaborate looking red door led to the hallway that would reunite them with Redfield. However, instead of finding another connecting passage, what the two of them found was a bar.

Yes, an actual bar, complete with atmospheric lighting, a grand piano in the corner, and a rather… large amount of alcohol on display behind the bar itself. The floor was the same shined tile as the main hall, only darker, and there were a couple small tables with chairs. So what the hell kind of place was this, anyway? More rooms than a shopping mall, a dining room fit for more than a dozen people at a time, and now a fucking _bar_?

"Feels like we're just chasing our tails here, Jill." Burton said, some of the anger returning to his voice. "Looks like Chris will have to find his own way back around, and… well, if Kenneth found his way into this place, then maybe the others did, too. We've gotta find them before they get in trouble… come on, let's hurry."

"Barry, wait!" She called, following as he ran out the door. "Barry, we need to stick together!"

The big man was moving a lot faster than Valentine expected, and the young woman had to move back around the tables before even reaching the door, just in time to hear him go back into the dining hall. Not wanting to run that fast in case there was another deranged person around, so she was slower to get there, and also needing to carefully step over the body from earlier, while Burton was already heading back across the main hall. She heard another door slamming just before opening the double doors, but now… there was no sign of _him_ , either.

She would have heard the big man if he had gone up the stairs, so he must have still been on the first floor, and there were only two doors on the far side, but which one had he gone through? Letting out an angry huff of her own now, since the plan had been to stay together, and she had managed to lose… well… _everyone_ so far… she supposed that she would just have to choose one of them, and hope for the best.

"Damn it, Barry." Valentine said under her breath while looking at the two doors. "What's gotten into you?"


	7. Chapter 7 The West Wing

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Seven: The West Wing**

The groaning, snarling man was on him before Redfield could react, and the pistol fell from his hands as he was tackled backwards onto the desk. Knocking over the lamp as the man tried to claw and bite at his face, the young man had to stay in close, keeping his elbow jammed up into this deranged person's throat, while noticing that something was very wrong with him. From how the lamp was lying, it only gave him a sliver of light to see that his attacker's eyes were glazed over, and that patches of his skin were… missing.

Regardless of what was wrong with him, this man was clearly a danger to himself and others, so reaching for his boot knife with his other hand, Redfield plunged the blade into his attacker's hip. This didn't quite do as much as he hoped; no yelling or screaming, or even backing off as if this person hadn't felt it at all. The knife had, however, put him off balance enough for the young man to bring up his legs, and shove his attacker back with his feet.

Groaning as he stumbled and fell almost back into the closet, the attacker didn't stay down for long, but it was enough time for Redfield to pick his pistol back up from the floor. Now with the small flashlight shining directly onto the deranged man, Redfield saw that he was even worse looking than he thought… but even though the knife was still embedded into his hip, the deranged man was getting back up.

"RPD, freeze!" The young man yelled, not wanting to just _shoot_ a guy, no matter how crazy they were. "Get on the ground, and put your hands behind your head! God damn it, I said stop moving!"

 _Bang_! The darkened room was lit up with a brief flash of light as Redfield pulled the trigger, and this time his attacker went down when the bullet tore into his leg. He didn't stop, though, briefly trying to get up, before growling again as he started crawling across the floor toward the young man's feet. Again warning him to stop, Redfield was forced to pin the deranged man's head down with his foot, after his attacker grabbed onto his ankle, with no choice beyond this point except to put him down.

 _Bang_! This time shooting him in the back of the head, his attacker went limp, falling silent as darkened, foul-smelling blood began to seep out of the wound. No longer wanting to be in this room, the young man stepped over the body, stopping to pick up his knife, which had come out of his attacker during its last crawling attack. Wiping the blade off on the blanket of the unmade bed, Redfield put it back into its sheath before walking back out into the hallway… and suddenly feeling sick to his stomach.

Although having to shoot people on occasion, this had been the first time since joining the RPD that the young man had to actually _kill_ someone, and even as a pilot in the Air Force, he had always been a good distance away from anything that he had blown up. Was it like this for everyone their first time? He wondered while the nauseous feeling in his stomach got worse, like he was gonna throw up… yeah, he was probably… no, _definitely_ going to, but… at least he knew where the bathroom was.

Throwing open to door to the half-bath with the oddly placed tiger statue, Redfield nearly dove onto the toilet, and hugged the bowl while emptying his entire last meal into the water. Now putting the lid down and kind of resting his head on it while the toilet flushed, the young man was glad that none of the others had been there to witness this, no matter how much he wished that he wasn't alone at the moment. What the hell had been wrong with that guy, anyway?

Running the events of the other room through his mind while sitting down and leaning up against the wall, he remembered the last couple pages of the diary he had been looking through, as well as how deranged and feral the man who attacked him had been. This sounded crazy, even to himself after seeing it, but the condition his attacker had been in, with eyes and skin and everything… he had looked like something straight out of one of those zombie movies that his sister, Claire was into.

"Zombies, _really_?" He asked himself, shaking his head. "What's next, a narration from _Rod Serling_?"

He could only imagine what his teammates would say when he got back around to the main hall, talking about zombies roaming the mansion… beginning with Wesker having him tied up until they could throw him in the nut house back in Raccoon City. Yeah, there had to be a different explanation than the dead getting up and walking around… but at the same time, the way the writer had slowly become incoherent in the diary…

Well, there was nothing else in his stomach to vomit up, so Redfield slowly got to his feet and opened the door just a crack to make sure that no one else had come into the hall while he was uh… _indisposed_. No one was there, so the young man stepped back out into the corridor, keeping his pistol aimed forward just in case his pervious attacker had any friends… okay, maybe they weren't _zombies_ , but they were violent and crazy and… holy shit, were these the ones responsible for the Cannibal Murders?

If all of the attackers had been as messed up as the one in the bedroom, it would certainly explain why so many people had been killed up in the mountains, but then again what would such insane cannibals be doing inside of place like this, and… the diary had ended in May, while the murders had started back in January, so… how could it be them? No, people like _that_ were probably hold up in some ancient shack up in the woods, like something out of _Deliverance_.

Now that he had reached the end of the corridor, it continued going around the corner to the right, and there was also another door on the left. After what happened last time, the young man wasn't exactly in the mood for another bedroom, so he continued around to the right, hoping that this would lead him back around to where Valentine was. The good news was that the hallway did curve around, passing by a few windows that were lit up by another flash of lightning, but the bad news was that it led into another dead end.

Okay, not really a dead end, but the door with small windows built into it, opened up into a small area that was outside, yet completely closed in by walls. Heavy raindrops were falling on his head as Redfield checked out the room, and although the only thing up above was black, night sky, the single light fixture mounted on the far wall allowed him to see that this was some kind of greenhouse. There were potted plants on display shelves along the walls, and a small fountain in the center, probably where the water for the plants came from.

Well, as fascinating as a collection of different colored plants was, this area was a dead end, unless he planned on climbing up two stories of slippery wet walls like _Spiderman_ or something… which wasn't going to happen. So he went back through the door, into the hallway, and passed the windows just as another flash of lighting lit up a figure of something outside. Redfield stopped in his tracks, looking out the window, but only being able to see raindrops and darkness, until using his flashlight…

 _Crash!_ Suddenly the glass shattered from something diving through the window, and the young man was tackled to the ground before he even realized what had happened. However, the sight of teeth and glazed over eyes quickly made him understand that he was being attacked by _another_ deranged person just like the man in the bedroom. He was soaking wet, and therefore harder to restrain than the last one, but at least he hadn't lost his weapon this time.

Having to tilt his head back so fast that the back of his head hit the floor, to avoid getting his nose bitten off, Redfield struggled to bring his pistol up, while looking away as the growling, groaning man drooled all over his cheek. _Bang_! A small spray of blood when the bullet struck his attacker in the arm had no effect on the deranged man's ferocity, but it did weaken his arm just enough for the young man to get a better aim.

 _Bang!_ Pulling the trigger a second time, the bullet was sent right up through his attacker's jaw, knocking out a few of the deranged man's teeth before bursting out the back of his head. Like the last one, this attacker collapsed immediately after taking a shot to the head, but now the young man had to kick and push his way out from under the body. At least this time he didn't feel like vomiting after getting free, but now that the window was broken, he needed to get out of this corridor before anything else decided to come through.

"Okay, this one's _gotta_ lead back around." He said to himself, catching his breath while returning to the door he had passed earlier. " _Please_ lead back around."

At least it wasn't another dead end, the young man thought as the door opened into yet _another_ hallway, this one with yellowish-brown wallpaper, and laminate wood flooring that had been stained a cheery color. No longer in the mood for slow, stealthy exploration, Redfield tried to open the first door that he came to, finding it locked; just as sturdy as all the other doors in this place, and with his luck probably the one that would take him back to Valentine.

This one had a keyhole, but he didn't have a key, nor did he have the kind of lock picking skills that Valentine possessed, so the only choice was to move on, since he doubted that a 9mm pistol was enough to break in. There were more light fixtures in this area, leaving no shadowed spots where things could be hiding… but that also meant no cover for _him_ , either. Redfield felt better after seeing how small the windows were, since they were not big enough for anyone skulking around outside to leap in at him.

So far this hallway was quiet as it curved around sort of in the direction that he wanted to go, but when the corridor finally ended, it wasn't at a door back toward the main hall, but at a staircase leading up to the next floor. Of course it did, why wouldn't it? He thought while walking toward it, but then the young man had to hide behind one of the hallway's large support pillars when a sound came from above.

Footsteps… kind of shambling, unsure footsteps starting to come down… then going back up a bit as if changing their mind, and then starting down again. Redfield's mouth ran dry when he heard the same groaning that had come from his two attackers… followed by a second groan that came with another set of footsteps. Oh great, there were two of them, the young man thought as he weighed his options.

He could fight, maybe get the drop on them… but he didn't know how many there were, and his supply of ammo wasn't exactly large, so what? Go back? There was nothing back there but more dead ends, unless he wanted to go out that window, which _wasn't_ happening… so it looked like fighting was the way to go. Moving out from behind the support pillar, and back around behind the stairs… when a third option presented itself in the form of a hidden door… a closet?

Hiding was only a temporary solution, but maybe the two on the stairs would just wander away if he stayed quiet enough. So Redfield moved over to the door, and quietly turned the knob… it opened, allowing him to rush into the brightly lit room, which was bigger than he thought… and then suddenly everything went sideways when something struck him in the back of the head.


	8. Chapter 8 Strange Happenings

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Eight: Strange Happenings**

"Barry?" Valentine called, trying to still be quiet. "Barry, where did you go?"

Of the two doors that Burton could have possibly gone through, the young woman had decided to start with the one that was farthest away from the front door, and it opened into a kind of coatroom… a very large coatroom, complete with jackets and hats hanging from several depressed closet rods, as if there were a lot of people living in this mansion at one time, or at least visiting. Rain galoshes and rubber shoe covers hung from shoe racks above a rather dirty throw rug, but the mud that was hanging onto both had dried long ago by the looks of it.

No sign of the big man, though, but there was another door toward the back, so she walked across the tiled floor, much more cheaply done than in the main hall, with a kind of waxed blue linoleum. The amount of dust inside suggested that no one had used this room in a while, but since Valentine was there, there was no point in leaving rooms unopened, so she continued on to the far door, and opened it up into a large community bathroom.

Subway tile covered the walls, the floor was a checkered pattern of tiny ceramic tiles, and everything was brightly lit with long sets of dual fluorescent tube lights. This must have been a unisex bathroom, because there wasn't a separate one for women around, and it was _big_ , most likely the primary restroom of the house. There were several stalls, a line of urinals, and even an open shower room that also had individual bathtubs spaced around the room, similar to what was often found in Japanese establishments.

Whole place was clean, though, again looking like it had hardly been used… except for one of the free-standing tubs. While all of the others were clean and empty, one of them was filled up with a kind of dirty, muddy water just about to the top, while some of the water had splashed down onto the floor long ago, staining a few of the tiles. Well, this was about as out of place as things got, and as much as the young woman wanted to ignore it, the OCD that she sometimes felt for out of place things was kicking in.

"Who just _leaves_ a tub like this?" She asked herself, reaching in for the drain. "Disgusting people, that's who… come on, where… ah, ha."

Thankfully this tub was drained with a switch just underneath the faucet instead of having to soak her whole arm to find a rubber stopper, and with a rough gurgling sound, the muddy water started to go down. That was better, Valentine thought as she watched it, until a bunch of the water splashed down onto the floor as someone sat up inside the tub. Growling and flailing around in an attempt to grab her, this man only spilled out more water, causing the young woman to slip and fall when she tried to jump back.

Hitting her head and having her vision blur for a second, Valentine snapped out of it just in time to see the man in the tub, who looked like a water-logged version of the one who had killed Sullivan, flopping down into the floor. Trying to get up wasn't easy though, since the muddy water was really slippery as if some shampoo or something had been poured into it at some point, so she was able to do little more than flail around like a fish… but at least the deranged man was having just as much trouble.

He growled and groaned, fingers outstretched to grab her by the boots, but if the young woman couldn't get away, there was still another option. Reaching down and taking the pistol out of her holster, Valentine aimed and shot at him, but her hands were slippery to the point where she missed completely. Continuing to scoot away while her attacker reached out, each having no success at all, she tried to wipe her hands off on the dry parts of her uniform, and shot again, this time hitting him in the outstretched hand.

The bullet went right through his palm, but didn't seem to both him much aside from making his fingers move more slowly. _Bang!_ One more shot after wiping her hands off yet again, and a spray of blood shot out the back of his head when the bullet struck him right between the eyes. The good news was that her attacker was no longer moving, but she still couldn't manage to get up with all the soapy, muddy water on the floor… and how had that guy stayed underwater like that, anyway?

"Jill?!" Burton's voice called from the coat room. "Jill, where are you?! Are you all right?!"

"I'm in here!" She yelled back, failing yet again to get up. "I'm okay, Barry, but I need help!"

Now that some of the spilled water was making its way over to the floor drain, moving around was getting a little easier, but she still needed the big man's help to get to her feet once he entered the bathroom. Mud and dirt were spread out all across the tile, and the bathtub had just finished draining, but thankfully there was a rack of towels nearby so that she would wipe off the soapy residue that was left.

"You sure picked a weird time for a _bath_ , Jill." Burton said, looking at the body and into the empty tub. "So you say this guy was just lying there, underwater, for how long, now?"

"I was in here for at least _three_ minutes before I even looked at the tub, Barry." Valentine replied, wiping off her boots. "There was no movement, no bubbles, no nothing until I stuck my arm into the water. I mean, look at him… his skin is so waterlogged, it's about to fall off his bones."

Bloated, swollen, loose-hanging… whatever had caused this deranged person to be in the bathtub like that, he must have been in there for a long time. But the part that worried the young woman the most, was that he had been just as deranged and violent as the one who had killed Sullivan… so were there _more_ of them somewhere inside the mansion? As of that moment, these pale, glazed-eye, _psychopaths_ were the most likely suspects for the Cannibal Murders, and now it was more important than ever to find their missing comrades.

"So where did you go?" She asked, no longer slipping when she tried to walk. "When you just ran off like that… it wasn't like you, Barry."

"Sorry about that, Jill, I… thought you were right behind me until I heard the shooting." The big man explained. "I went through the other door, and found some kind of storage room, but nothing was in it except more of those tacky paintings we've seen everywhere. I would have kept going if I hadn't heard you in here."

Valentine wrote off his behavior as just another part of this stressful mission, and decided not to worry about it, instead the two of them leaving this area and returning to the main hall. The other door was a kind of sitting room, filled with sculptures and lined with more chairs, while the back contained a small storage room just like Burton had described. With no sign of their comrades, nor any more of those deranged freaks, the only way forward was through a door on the far side of the sitting room.

"The people who own this place must be _billionaires_." The big man commented, touching a large marble statue of woman drawing water. "So how does a swanky place like this become the hangout for a bunch of cannibals?"

"I don't know." The young woman replied, agreeing with him about the value of the house. "This place just doesn't make any sense… I can't figure it out at all. You think, maybe… the cannibals ate the people who lived here?"

It wasn't a comforting thought, but it could have maybe made more sense… if there had been more signs of a struggle throughout the areas the two of them had already explored. However, so far the only signs of anyone being attacked had been caused by the STARS teams, so what had happened? Did the owners of this place just pack up and leave with all the lights on, and the cannibals just… moved in?

Hopefully there would be more answers as they explored the house, as well as their teammates… and maybe a telephone. Why weren't there any telephones in all the rooms that they had been inside so far? The _click_ of Burton opening the next door brought the young woman's thoughts back into focus, and now they were faced with a long hallway, like the one Redfield had vanished into.

This one was better illuminated, this time by glass-covered light fixtures on the ceiling, and Valentine realized that with as radically different as each of the areas of the mansion were, it was like a dozen different designers had been brought in to make up the plans, and just divided it up. This part of the house had no portraits on the walls, just randomly placed display cases that were showing off… _commemorative plates_? Seriously?

"Barry, look at this stuff." She said, pointing to it. "US Presidents, sports athletes, entertainers… why would someone dedicate a whole _hallway_ to stuff like this?"

"Well, some people collect _stamps_." Burton suggested as they passed by more cases. "I used to collect _Canadian quarters_ when I was a kid; had about three of them, but then one day I wanted a soda, so…

Lightning flashed through the dozen or so large windows that lined the outer wall of the corridor, followed by a crash of thunder, and… something else. For a moment the young woman thought that she had seen movement, but when she took a closer look at the window, there was nothing but darkness outside… except for a small crack in the glass. Suddenly something did move, hitting the glass with enough force to make the crack spread throughout, and causing Valentine to stumble backwards into the other wall.

Taking a moment to catch her breath, she and Burton listened to what sounded like low growling mixed in with the falling rain, and then something leapt right toward her. _Crash_! The window shattered inward as a four legged figure… a _dog_ flew into the room, missing the young woman, and destroying one of the display cases from the impact. _Bang_! Reacting out of instinct, Valentine raised her pistol and pulled the trigger, making the partially skinned dog yelp as it fell over, but then more growling was heard outside.

"Jill, we gotta get out of here!" Burton exclaimed, grabbing her by the arm as the dog started to get up. "Come on, run!"

The two of them took off running down the hallway, and the mutilated dog gave chase, followed by another one that jumped in through the window… and another… and another…


	9. Chapter 9 Rebecca Chambers

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Nine: Rebecca Chambers**

Redfield had only just walked into the room that was partially hidden behind the stairs, when something struck him in the back of the head hard enough to make him see white for a second. Stumbling forward, and not even realizing that he was falling over until partially catching himself on a bed that was against the far wall of the room, he took another hit that made him go the rest of the way down to the floor…but managing to keep a grip on his pistol.

 _Bang! Bang!_ Firing off two shots without the possibility of aiming, a small jar on top of a cabinet was shattered by the first one, while the other put a tiny hole in the wall next to the light switch. Needless to say the young man didn't even come _close_ to hitting his attacker, but surprisingly they backed off anyway, dropping the small fire extinguisher they were holding, before letting out a rather _female_ sounding gasp of fright.

Unlike the deranged, rabid people that were wandering the halls, this person actually seemed coherent, but was that good news or bad? With his vision as blurred and distorted as it was, this person could have been anyone… another cannibal, the owner of the mansion, anyone at all. But whether they were a criminal or an innocent bystander, the young man wasn't about to take any chances.

"Don't move." Redfield ordered weakly, struggling to aim his pistol at her, and not doing very well. "I'm a… I'm a cop… RPD… keep your hands where I can see them."

"All right, just don't shoot, okay?" The scared, yet familiar voice replied, putting up her hands. "Wait a minute, did you say you were… Corporal Redfield? Is that you?"

The dizziness and sudden fatigue from the two head blows made it so that the young man couldn't hold up the pistol anymore, but at least his vision was starting to refocus. This was definitely a small bedroom of some kind, but looked like it was also serving as a kind of storage room… as if the primary occupant was a bit too dedicated to his work. A single hanging light fixture revealed that aside from the bed and nearby writing desk, there was also a large display cabinet that was filled with lots of small vials like the one that he had shot.

However, the most interesting part of the room was not the furniture or mysterious vials, but the short-haired young woman who had attacked him. She was a slender thing, skinnier and a tiny bit shorter than Valentine, but wearing a uniform similar to hers, complete with a STARS unit patch on her shoulder. The girl also had a white case with a red cross on it attached to her belt… this, along with knowing his name, meant that she could only have been Rebecca Chambers, the most recently hired Rookie of Bravo Team… the one who Richard Aiken was sweet on.

"Oh, my God, I'm _so_ sorry about your head." She explained, coming over and kneeling down with him. "When I heard you outside, I thought you were one of those _zombies_ , and I lost my weapon, so… well, you're not bleeding, so that's good, right?"

Chambers smiled kind of awkwardly, like a kid who was trying to find some silver lining in a situation to keep their parent from getting upset, but honestly Redfield was happy to see her, or _any_ member of Bravo Team. Ever since getting separated from Valentine, the young man had been on his own in this place, and if the short haired girl was there, then the others were probably somewhere inside the mansion as well.

"Rebecca, what happened to your team?" He asked, pausing for a moment to take the pain killer she gave him with water from his canteen. "Where are Enrico and the others?"

"We got separated." She explained, helping him to his feet. "Our helicopter went down, and then there were these awful looking dogs, and… everything went to _shit_ , pardon my language. I tried to regroup with the others this house, where I _thought_ it was safe, but…

Chambers trailed off, but the young man was able to figure out the rest of the details with his own experiences, imagining Bravo Team entering the main hall just as they had, and probably becoming separated from each other in the same stupid way that he had done to find himself alone. But hey, a single, unarmed friendly face was better than being alone… but there was something about what the short haired girl had said that was bothering him.

"Did you say _zombies_ a second ago?" Redfield asked, still shaking off some of the dizziness. "What did you mean?"

"You're kidding, right?" Chambers replied, as if he had said something stupid. "You _did_ notice the shambling, dead-looking monsters who eat people in the halls like in those _George Romero_ films, didn't you? I mean, all that's missing is for them to start yelling _brains_ , so what would _you_ call them?"

Well, she had a good point, but up until now he hadn't wanted to imagine the people who had been attacking him as anything but normal psychopaths, which… didn't really feel any better than calling them zombies, now that he thought about it. This would also explain how they had been able to take bullet hits to other parts of their bodies besides the head without really reacting to them, but all this just… didn't seem real. It was more like one of those midnight movies that his sister, Claire was always watching.

The term _zombies_ made even more sense after he remembered the diary that he had read in the other bedroom, where it sounded like the writer had been slowly losing his mind over the course of a week, but what did that mean? Had the deranged lunatic who rushed at him from the closet once been the writer of the diary? And if so, then what the hell happened to him? Some kind of disease or… a brain fever?

"So, is all of Alpha Team here?" The short haired girl asked hopefully. "Did you already find the rest of my team? My radio was broken earlier, and I've been in this room for… a while now… is everyone okay?"

"You're the first one I've seen in this house." Redfield replied, having hoped that _she_ knew where the others were. "I don't have a radio, either, but Wesker and the others are waiting for me in the main hall, so all we have to do is find a way back around to them."

Since he had no way of getting through the locked door that he had seen earlier, the young man knew that their only chance was to find a way back around to the main hall by going upstairs. Earlier he had seen that there were doors on the walkway above where they had entered, so it was possible that there was a way around if they just kept going, but… he didn't exactly have a lot of bullets, and… Chambers didn't seem like the best person to be paired with in an unarmed fight.

"All right, let _me_ go first." He said, the last of his dizziness fading away as he walked toward the door. "I'll go up the stairs, and then I'll call for you when it's safe."

Without waiting for her to reply, and staying focused on regrouping with Wesker and the others, the young man pulled open the door, only to cry out in surprise when one of the zombies immediately went for him. Losing his balance in the resulting struggle, they fell to the floor, where Redfield kept his elbow jammed up into his attackers throat to keep the growling, snarling man from biting him… not much he could do about the drool, though.

 _Whack!_ There was a sound of cracking bones as Chambers picked up the small fire extinguisher, and slammed it into the side of his attackers head, making him let go of Redfield as he fell over onto the floor. Not giving this monster the chance to recover, the short haired girl stood over him as she raised up the fire extinguisher, and slammed it down onto his head again… and again… and again until the zombie stopped moving.

Breathing heavily while off-colored blood seeped out from the man's head onto the rug, Chambers dropped the fire extinguisher, before turning away and leaning against the opposite wall in order to keep herself from vomiting. As with the others that the young man had faced, the smell coming off of this guy was awful, but at least he wasn't attacking them any longer… and now Redfield was reconsidering his earlier plan to keep exploring the house alone.

"Are you all right over there, Rebecca?" He asked, getting to his feet. "It's okay if you gotta throw up… I did earlier."

"No, I'm okay." She replied, taking a few more deep breaths before turning back to him. "The smell isn't any worse than the forensics class I took in college, but… I've never had to do that to anyone before… Redfield, did I just _kill_ that guy? I know he was gonna hurt you, but… I've never…

Redfield had seen this kind of thing back in the Air Force after the first time pilots had to conduct air strikes on living targets, so instead of letting her burden herself with the whole load of it right there, the young man reminded her that they needed to focus on getting back to the main hall, where the others were waiting. After all, it was better to process things like the taking of human life slowly, especially since if there were more of those zombies around, she would probably have to kill _again_ before this was all over.

"I saw one more of those things out there before I came in." The young man said quietly, putting his ear to the door. "Hopefully we can either sneak past it or at least take it by surprise if we're careful."

There were no more sounds that he could hear from listening, so this time Redfield very quietly opened the door just enough to look out into the hallway, and although he did see the other zombie walking around… he had gone the other way, moving farther from the stairs and down the hall the way the young man had come. Now putting a finger to his lips for Chambers to be quiet, and motioning for her to follow, the two of them stepped out into the hallway.

So far the other zombie hadn't noticed them, which was a miracle due to how loudly the wooden floor creaked with each of their slow, careful steps, and the stairs were even worse. Still, the remaining zombie wandered down toward the other end of the hall, and hopefully it would stay there while Redfield and Chambers carefully ventured up into the second floor of the mansion.


	10. Chapter 10 Booby Trap

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Ten: Booby Trap**

Running as fast as they could, Valentine and Burton rounded the corner, with the big man almost tripping while more dogs were heard leaping in through the broken window. He managed to catch himself by grabbing onto another of those display cabinets against the wall, but also tipped it over in the process, causing a _yelp_ followed by the shattering of more glass when it fell on top of the closest pursuing dog.

Whether he meant to do that, or it had been pure clumsy luck, this action gave them the time needed to reach the door at the end of the hall, and since the young woman was a faster runner, she had grabbed the doorknob and pulled it open by the time Burton caught up. He nearly lifted her off her feet while grabbing her and pulling her through the door, then slamming the door shut, but not fast enough to keep the closest dog from getting its head through.

"Damn it!" Burton yelled, trying to keep from getting bitten while holding the door shut. "Jill, help!"

The partially skinned, rotting dog was even more horrible to look at in good lighting; one eye hanging from its socket, and the tongue missing completely, while what remained of its skin just kind of hung there. Valentine couldn't help but wonder what was keeping it alive in such a condition, but this was no longer an issue after she aimed her pistol and pulled the trigger. _Bang!_ The dog went limp, and the big man was able to push the remains back through the door, where the other pursuing dogs immediately began… eating it, which made the young woman feel a little nauseous as he closed the door.

"There's no lock on this door." He commented, taking a moment to catch his breath. "Guess it's a good thing animals can't turn doorknobs, huh?"

"Did you see that dog's _face_?" The young woman replied, barely registering his statement. "Barry, those dogs… they're just as rotted and deranged as those people who attacked us, I mean… what the hell kind of place is this? Have these things been just _wandering_ the mountains and attacking people for _months_?"

Burton didn't seem to have any answers, but then again, none of this mattered if they weren't able to find Redfield and the others. With how awful Sullivan's death had been, she was genuinely worried about the others from Bravo Team, and now with Wesker and Redfield each having to deal with this place on their own, well… this made her _very_ glad to have the big man around.

As they caught their breath, Valentine took a drink from her canteen while seeing that they were at the start of yet _another_ hallway, and with the map of this place that she had been trying to make in her head, the size of this mansion was… _unbelievable_. That, and the fact that they were _still_ moving further away from the main hall and where she had become separated from Redfield… she was starting to wonder if they would ever find him or Wesker.

"Jesus, this place never ends." Burton said, looking at their new surroundings. "All right, we need to keep moving; I'll go forward and clear out the hallway itself, and you start checking these side doors. Make sure the knobs don't lock themselves _before_ you go inside, and don't go down any more hallways on your own."

"Okay." She replied, putting her canteen away. "But you don't go too far, either, all right? Just go to the end of this hall, and circle back so that nothing else can get the jump on us."

Great, well they had a plan, at least for _this_ section of the house, but the young woman couldn't say that she was completely comfortable after watching the big man round the next corner, and move out of sight. This hallway was made similar to the one where she had found Sullivan, with wall-mounted lights that were spaced too far apart, especially since the hall made so many turns, but at least with him going ahead, she knew for now that there were no killers waiting around the corner.

The first door that she came to opened up into a small bathroom, containing only a single toilet and bathtub, the latter of which was thankfully empty. Aside from a rather large stock of toilet paper, the room was empty, which gave Valentine a moment to reload her pistol, since it was anyone's guess how many more dogs and… deranged freaks were wandering around this place as if it were… some kind of _monster hotel_ or something.

"Monster hotel… fucking _stupid_ , Jill." She whispered, shaking her head. "Make a nice Twilight Zone episode, though."

Now with a full magazine inside her weapon, the young woman ventured back out into the hall, still not gaining sight of Burton after rounding another corner, but finding another door on the opposite side from the bathroom. It was unlikely that she was going to find another room that was free of danger, so Valentine slowly opened it, peeking through the crack to find… absolutely nothing. The walls of the small, brightly lit room were a kind of faded brownish white, and the floor was stained concrete, but… that was it.

Well, at least she knew that there were no dogs inside, and Valentine was about to continue down the corridor, when she stopped after spotting another door on the other side of the bare room. It wasn't a new hallway, so exploring it didn't break the plan, and after checking that the knob turned from both inside and out, the young woman stepped through the door. Her boots echoed loudly against the concrete, and the ceiling was quite high compared to the other rooms that she had been in, but she managed to reach the far door without incident, opening it up into another small room.

"Oh, hell _yes_." She exclaimed a bit louder than necessary. "Finally, something _good_ in this place."

The room itself was plainly decorated; only a few small pictures on the walls, a sofa and coffee table in the center, and a small unlit fireplace… where a rifle was mounted on a decorative plaque. No, not a rifle, a _shotgun_ , the young woman discovered after walking into the room for a closer look. A big, powerful _Remington M870_ … bigger and harder to use than Frost's M1100, but it could hold more shells… shells like the ones in the boxes on top of the fireplace.

Valentine couldn't believe her luck; finding both this weapon and a decent amount of ammo, which she stuffed into an empty side pouch on her belt, before lifting the shotgun itself off of its mount. Strange, though… the hooks that were holding the weapon seemed to move up on the wall an inch or two after she took it… what was _that_ about? Oh well, this whole _place_ was weird, and the young woman didn't want to be separated from Burton for too long, so she headed back toward the hallway, passing through the empty chamber, and turning the knob.

"What the hell?" She asked, trying the knob again. "Oh, come on, open."

The knob rattled, but somehow it had become locked… and then some dust fell onto her hand from above… and now there was a kind of stony, rumbling sound. Slowly tilting her head to look up, at first Valentine thought she was seeing things when the ceiling appeared to be getting closer, but after rubbing her eyes and still seeing the whole thing slowly lowering down, it finally clicked in her head why the shotgun's hooks had moved.

A booby trap? She thought, partially in disbelief. So… what… out of all the valuable _crap_ that was just sitting inside the mansion, it was this old _shotgun_ that would cause a thief to get crushed to death. It didn't make any sense, but neither did half the other things that she had seen that night, so as much as she hated to give the weapon up, it was time to put it back. With the lowering ceiling still a good distance up, Valentine walked back over to the door into the sitting room, turning the knob, and…

"Oh, fuck." She said when it didn't open, trying it again. "Oh, fuck, fuck, _fuck_!"

 _Both_ of the doors had become locked, and the ceiling was still getting closer, so she did the only thing that she could think of, which was to put a shell into the shotgun, rush over to the door into the hallway, and pull the trigger. _Boom!_ Bits of stucco and drywall were blasted apart, as was a small part of the door's wooden surface, but it wasn't enough. Especially because underneath the wooden casing of the door… was a layer of metal.

"Help!" Valentine screamed, pounding on the door. "Chris, Barry, Wesker, help! It's gonna crush me, Barry, help!"

So far there was no response from anyone who could have helped her, and after a second failed attempt to destroy the door with the shotgun, the young woman took a deep breath and screamed as loud as she could; high pitched and ear-splitting in a way that she hadn't done since being a kid… all while having to bend down when the lowering ceiling, that she could now see was stone, reached the top of the doorframe.

"Jill?!" Burton's voice called from in the hallway. "Jill, was that you?! Where are you?!"

"Barry, help!" She called back now having to get to her knees. "I'm locked in! Help me, please! Help!"

With the ceiling coming down so that the young woman was forced to lay down on her stomach, she heard the sound of the big man's magnum revolver going off, and the door was pulled open. The ceiling was so low now that she couldn't even lift her head far enough to look toward him, but then Valentine felt his hands grabbing onto hers, as well as the ceiling starting to touch the soles of her boots just as she was pulled out into the hallway.

Then everything was silent; the ceiling touched down onto the concrete floor, leaving the booby trapped chamber as well as the sitting room beyond inaccessible, but the young woman was still alive, and as soon as she could get up to her hands and knees, she threw her arms around Burton, who was now sitting against the opposite wall, hugging him tightly. She didn't want to cry or anything, but a couple tears made their way down her cheeks… but Burton didn't seem so happy.

"What the _fuck_ , Jill?!" He exclaimed, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. "I told you not to go in if the doors locked on the inside, and you almost got… Jesus, you were almost a _Jill Sandwich_ , do you realize that?!"

The big man sounded so scared and angry that the young woman couldn't do anything but just sit there wide-eyed while he ranted something about how _he would beat his daughters with a hairbrush if they ever did anything so stupid_ , but then he hugged Valentine even tighter than she had done to him, and now it was Burton's turn to shed a couple tears while the two of them just sat there in the hallway.


	11. Chapter 11 Full Circle

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Eleven: Full Circle**

Letting out a short sigh of relief after reaching the top of the stairs without drawing the attention of the remaining zombie, Redfield now had to shield his eyes because of how bright everything was on the second floor of the mansion. Not that there was any more lighting that usual, just a single small wooden chandelier with a dozen lightbulbs illuminating the stairwell, along with the walkway that sort of wrapped around it in a circle.

Well, it was more like a rectangular path that started from the top of the stairs, where the paths split between that and another short hallway, then going around past a small window, before looping around to another door. The reason the young man had to shield his eyes, though, was because of how bright yellow and glossy the wallpaper was, reflecting the light from the chandelier into his eyes.

Even with as hard as it was to look around, there didn't seem to be any more of those zombies in this section, at least as long the one downstairs didn't wander its way back up, allowing the two of them to focus on checking out the side doors, since the main hallway was already clear. They would have to be quiet, though, walking slowly and carefully toward the short hallway, with Redfield continuously looking back toward the top of the stairs while reaching for the knob of the first door.

"Locked." He whispered, rattling it a couple times. "Hey, at least this one's got a keyhole… I don't suppose you know how to pick locks?"

"Pick locks?" Chambers asked, sounding almost like she was offended by the idea. "Sorry, Chris, I was too busy getting my _Master's Degree_ , to learn how to be a common _street thug_."

Wow, _geez_ , he must've struck a nerve, the young man thought while dropping the subject. All right, they definitely weren't getting into _this_ door without Valentine, who was going to _love_ the street thug comment, by the way, so the two of them continued down the short hallway to the other door at the end… but this one was different. Instead of decorated wood like the others, it was made of dark brown metal, and where the last door had a keyhole, this one had an electronic _keypad_.

"Well, the good news is that we don't need a key." Redfield commented, looking at it. "I'm not trying to offend you this time, Rebecca, but if you can't pick locks, how are you at guessing number combinations?"

"Are you _serious_ right now?" The short haired girl asked after looking at the keypad. "Chris, there's space on that display for like… _eight_ different numbers; that's like… twenty _thousand_ possible combinations… you'd need a computer, or the _actual_ combination."

As far as the young man was concerned, there was no harm in tying, so he typed in a series of eight random numbers, the pad producing a hard _click_ with each push of a button, and then… nothing happened. Trying again, this time with different numbers, and then making a third attempt, each time the display simply went blank after each attempt, with the door remaining locked.

"Look, I'm sorry about seeming… _snappy_." Chambers said after his fourth attempt failed. "It's just, this isn't working, and… and I'm scared, okay. I got a really bad feeling that something, well… _bad_ is going to happen to our teams is we don't find them soon."

The short haired girl was right, since there was no way of warning the others about the things lurking inside this house without finding them, so Redfield abandoned the locked door, and resumed walking quietly, this time along the walkway that wrapped around the stairs. He stopped for a moment in order to look out the small window, but aside from the rain hitting the glass, and even more rain hitting the trees the next time lightning flashed, there really wasn't a lot to see outside.

More thunder rumbled as the two of them continued around to the only other door left for them to try, with the young man making a mental note to try and find Chambers a better weapon than the small fire extinguisher she was carrying around. Regardless of how deadly she was with it, he didn't like the idea of getting into any more close up fights with these zombie things, but then again, what were the odds of finding another _gun_ lying around in this place?

Redfield was relieved that this door was unlocked, unlike the others that he had seen so far on this floor, and also that it was a bit darker inside the very large chamber that it opened up into. The floor felt out of place, though, more like wooden planks on a dock than the flooring of a house, and it circled the whole chamber kind of like the stone walkway above the main hall back at the RPD. A wooden guardrail was the only decoration that this area possessed, but when the young man walked to the edge and looked down, a smile crossed his face.

"Rebecca, this is it!" He exclaimed, starting to pull her along. "That's the big dining room down there, where me and Jill came in, so that main hall's right through that… Rebecca, what are you doing?"

She started resisting being pulled from the moment the young man grabbed her arm, and although she was trying to say something, Redfield didn't get the message until he looked in the direction that she was pointing… where a zombie was slowly walking toward them through the darkness. This was fine, though, he thought as they started backing away… but then they heard the soft groan of the _second_ shambling monster as it came toward them from the other side.

"Shit." The young man said to himself, looking back and forth between the two approaching pursuers. "Shit, shit, shit."

To be fair, taking out either one of the approaching zombies would have cleared the way for their escape, but from the weight of his pistol there weren't very many bullets left, and if the second one caught up to them when he ran out… no, there _had_ to be a better way, one that didn't involve trying to fight them off with a damn _fire extinguisher_. But what were they supposed to do, grow wings and _fly_ over the monsters' heads?

"What about down _there_?" Chambers suddenly asked, looking over the rail as the zombies got closer. "The table is pretty tall; do you think we can climb down?"

It was a pretty risky plan, but it was better than staying up there with the two approaching zombies… of course, it was still quite a drop. No, too risky for them to simply dive over the edge like a couple of circus performers, so… they would have to work together. _Bang! Bang!_ Squeezing off two more bullets before his pistol clicked empty, each one slamming into the leg of an approaching zombie, the monsters didn't fall over, but they were certainly slowed down, giving the two of them more time.

The only logical way for this plan to work was for the short haired girl to help Redfield climb down onto the table, using all of her strength to lower him down an extra foot or so, for him to only have to drop maybe two feet onto the table while she was lying on the floor with her arms going between the guardrail posts. Redfield was a lot bigger than she was, and this effort put an enormous strain on her, but it was all so that the second part of the plan would work… calling for her to dive over the guardrail just before the two zombies reached her.

If she had been lowered down first, then Redfield would have had to be the one leaping, without someone to lower him down, and there was no way that the short haired girl could have caught him. This way, it was her, weighing a whopping hundred and five pounds, and easily being caught in the young man's arms as he stood on top of the dining table… which broke in half under their combined weight, sending them both falling to the floor.

"Oh, my God." He groaned, sitting up with a sore back after breaking her fall. "Rebecca, how much do you weigh?"

"A hundred and five, _smartass_." Chambers replied, trying to help him up after standing up, herself. "Next time, try standing on one of the _supports_."

Both of them were feeling sore when they finally got to their feet, but thankfully the two zombies on the upstairs walkway couldn't figure out how to go over the railing themselves, meaning that again the two of them were safe for the moment… that is, until they saw the body lying near the fireplace. It was definitely one of the zombies, from the discolored skin and glazed over eyes, but part of its head was missing, which was a plus in this situation.

"Wait a second, is this the one from the stairs?" Redfield asked, suddenly getting concerned. "Aw, shit, Jill must've gotten the door open, and went after me… come on, we gotta stop her before she gets too far."

Rushing through the small door into the next hall, the young man tried to shoulder the door he had originally gone through open, but it didn't budge. Two more times he tried to get it open, but it was still just as stuck as when it had first closed, and then Chambers pointed out the blood trail on the floor. It didn't go into the door he was trying to open, but down the hallway and around the corner, into a small sitting room where Kenneth Sullivan's decapitated body was lying still.

"Oh, my God, Kenneth!" The short haired girl exclaimed, kneeling down near him, but then immediately stumbling over to the corner and vomiting onto a large plant. "Hey… what's this?"

Coughing as she spoke those words, Chambers reached down underneath the sofa she was leaning on, and pulled out a 9mm pistol identical to Redfield's. It must have been Sullivan's, the young man thought, having slid under the sofa during his… his decapitation, but at least now the short haired girl had a weapon, and… and there were still a couple clips for it on their dead comrade's belt.

"Ugh… I'm real sorry about this, Kenneth." He said, trying not to look at the blood or severed head as he took the ammo. "Oh, God, this is awful."

The smell was the worst part; kind of like rust, expired meat, and rotten eggs, making him _very_ happy to be able to back away from the corpse. Chambers joined him, and the two tried their best not to look at the carnage of the room while reloading their weapons. Now that they had a way to defend themselves again, it was time to get back to the main hall of the mansion, where Redfield was sure that Valentine, Burton, and Wesker were eagerly awaiting his report… and what a report it was.


	12. Chapter 12 The Living Dead

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Twelve: The Living Dead**

To say that Valentine had left shaken up by her experience with that crusher trap would have been an understatement, and not just because of almost getting killed or how Burton had reacted. The most troubling part of the whole experience was the fact that such a thing existed within the mansion at all, like… who in their right mind would build such a thing? Better still, what contractor looked at the plans for it and said, _'yep, we put one of these in for Saddam Hussein last summer'_?

It took a while for the young woman to be able to continue on with the mission; eventually getting to her feet and finding a small comfort in the fact that Burton had been left just as shaken… but if Valentine _really_ needed to collapse like that hot chick who always trips over nothing in a scary movie, she could do that once everyone got back safely to the RPD. She couldn't wait to see the look on Chief Irons' face when he read _this_ mission report, and the thought of that gave her enough of a distraction to continue on.

"I already checked the corridor, itself." The big man reminded her as they rounded the first corner. "But there's a couple doors up ahead; I'll take right and you go left, but please Jill… _please_ don't touch anything this time."

"I _won't_ , okay, I learned my lesson." The young woman replied, gripping her shotgun more tightly. "No more _Jill Sandwiches_ on the menu."

Both of them had an uneasy kind of nervous laugh at this joke, but then Burton had to split off from her when he reached the first door on his side of the hall; a metal one that was just starting to rust along the edges, and looking… out of place among all the other ones. Valentine was just about to round the next corner, when the big man cried out in surprise right after opening it, and the immediately pulled it shut… but not fast enough to stop another mutilated dog from getting stuck halfway in.

Unable to keep holding the door without it being able to bite him, Burton had no choice but to back off, allowing the dog to get all the way inside. Beyond the door there was a small concrete patio, bordered off by an old style wooden fence, and illuminated by a standard porch-light… allowing Valentine to see that there were _more_ dogs on their way. _Boom_! Aiming toward the door and firing her shotgun, there was a _yelp_ as the two approaching dogs were deterred for the moment, stopping in their tracks as the frame around the door was peppered with impact marks.

As for the big man, he had not only been forced to abandon the door and move away, but the mutilated dog had gone right for him. While Valentine was driving the other dogs back with her shotgun, and closing the door, Burton was being tackled to the ground by the animal. It tried to claw and bite him, drooling all over his shirt while the big man restrained its front legs with his hands, and keeping his elbow jammed into its neck so that its teeth were kept a… well, not so comfortable distance apart as the animal growled and snapped at him.

 _Bang_! Another gunshot was heard, this time from Valentine's pistol, and the dog didn't even have a chance to yelp as her bullet tore into the back of its skull, sending out a small spray of darkened, foul smelling blood when it exited the animal's forehead. Now shoving the mutilated animal off and scrambling to his feet, Burton needed a moment to catch his breath, and the young woman didn't blame him, since the encounter was giving her flashbacks of Frost's death.

"Yeah… let's _not_ go that way." The big man said between labored breaths. "Just how _many_ of those God damn dogs are in the forest?"

Enough to keep the mansion completely surrounded, the young woman thought, meaning that there was absolutely no way for their team to get back to Raccoon City on foot, so unless they managed to find a radio or a telephone somewhere inside this mansion, none of them were going anywhere. Hopefully, Redfield, Wesker, and the members of Bravo Team were all having better luck… wherever they were.

"Okay, I got a door coming up." Valentine said once they resumed their search. "Oh… so do you… try not to throw open the door all the way this time, huh, Barry? Peek through the crack so we don't get ambushed again."

"It's another hallway, looks like." He replied, looking through the crack and then closing it again. "We'll come back to that after we check the rest out… don't want to miss the phone room because we were in a hurry."

Burton continued on, going around the next corner while the young woman tried the rather elaborate door on her side of the hall, finding it locked. There was actually a keyhole on this one, unlike others she had passed, so Valentine slipped her lock-picking tools out of her pocket, getting down on her knees, and then feeling for the tumblers. This was one of the many tricks that her father, who was currently doing time for poor life choices, had taught her during childhood, but the RPD didn't seem to mind when it was used for _their_ needs.

Click, the lock opened, allowing the young woman to open the door, into a small room that had been fashioned after an office. There were a couple bookcases, mostly filled with journals and texts of scientific study that was… above her pay grade, to put it mildly, but then Valentine gasped when she saw that someone was sitting at the desk. Wait, no… there was someone there, another of the deranged killers that she had been seeing around the mansion, but this one wasn't a threat.

He was dead… slumped over the desk with a bullet hole in the back of his head, but the strange part was how fresh the wound looked. That foul smelling blood was still dripping out onto the floor around him, and there was a faint scent of… carbon? That was impossible, she thought, looking down at the body, the door to this office had been locked, and for carbon to still be in the air, that would mean that this freak had been shot no more than a half hour earlier.

The only other thing on the desk was an old typewriter, where a piece of paper had been set, and unlike the dead man's gunshot wound, the ink did not look so fresh. It looked like at some point someone had been using the typewriter to draft a quite lengthy document, but the very top had been ripped off… but by who? For a moment she had an entertaining thought about the deranged man using a typewriter, but the more likely scenario was for someone else to have been using it, and the paper was torn when the killer had attacked them.

So what had happened? Did one of the actual owners of the house get attacked when the cannibals decided to move in, and then… lock the madman in their office? Well, there was no point in leaving the letter to just sit there, so Valentine carefully rolled the bar so that the paper was released, but what she read upon looking at it didn't make much sense. Maybe the missing top portion would have helped, but the torn fragment wasn't on the desk, nor on the floor when she got down to search for it. The remainder read:

 _A good number of my friends and colleagues who were there when it happened are no longer human, nor do I believe that they are even alive. They are the living dead, mindlessly roaming the halls with no intelligence nor even basic human awareness in their eyes. It is like all emotion and consciousness has been permanently erased, leaving only a shell that operates on the most basic instinct, that for finding food._

 _I can hear some of them outside, scratching at the door and rattling the knob, but I'm safe for the moment since it's not like any of them still know how to use a key, even if they managed to find one. Still unnerving, though, knowing that they are right outside in the hallway, searching for me, and after seeing what happened to the others who have encountered them, I'm more than happy to stay locked inside this office._

 _The process was slow at first, taking several days to transform them from men of learning, into the mindless killers that now pursue me, but it was much faster for the poor man who got cornered by them, taking only a few hours after positive contact for him to join their ranks, and even faster with each progressing generation. Due to my specific field of study, I was able to stave off the process, which I had hoped was permanently, but there is no hope in this place._

 _Alma, it's happening to me as well, and regardless of whether or not you ever receive this letter, just the thought of you reading my words gives me some comfort, because the worst part of all this is that it takes away your memories. I am slowly losing every detail of my life, even the days spent with you, but don't worry, I'm not about to let myself become like them. I've decided to take my own life, mercifully with poison before I turn, and I hope you understand why I've made this decision._

 _I love you, Alma, and may God forgive me._

 _Martin Crackhorn_

This letter to whoever _Alma_ was read more like something that would have been found in one of Redfield's little sister's horror movies than a serious documentation, and in any other circumstances, Valentine would have thought that the author was writing a horror novel. Of course, this letter, along with everything she had seen within the mansion with her own eyes… so these people, were they… _zombies_? Like, _actual_ zombies from _Dawn of the Dead_?

The young woman didn't want to think that, but the deranged people's condition, the fact that shooting them in the head was the only way to deal with them, and how that one guy had bene able to stay underwater for a _long_ time… zombies… but what about the dogs that had been attacking them? Had all those dogs out in the forest become zombies as well? And most importantly, was Chief Irons going to have her committed for even _suggesting_ such a thing?

According to the letter, these zombies were capable of transferring their, uh… _zombiness_ to other through something Martin Crackhorn described as positive contact, so what was that, biting? That was how it happened in the movies, but regardless of how _stupid_ any of this sounded as the young woman left the office, it was now more important than ever that she and Burton find the others.


	13. Chapter 13 Falling STARS

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Thirteen: Falling STARS**

"Jill?" Redfield called, his voice echoing through the main hall. "Barry? Wesker?"

This was definitely the place where all three of them had entered the mansion, but for some reason everyone was just _gone_ , like they had decided to simply wander off for whatever reason. With Chambers in tow, they made a quick survey of the first floor, before running up the thick carpet of the staircase to where they would have come out if they had stayed on the dining room's walkway, but there was still no sign of the other members of Alpha Team.

"This doesn't make any sense." The young man said, leaning on the guardrail and looking down at the first floor. "Wesker was staying here to establish a base, so someone should be around, even if Barry went to go check on Jill, or whatever."

"What if they got attacked in here, and _had_ to leave?" Chambers asked. "They're probably somewhere nearby, but… at least we know they're not on _that_ side of the house."

She made a good point, and since the two of them had needed to literally search the entire west side of the mansion in order to find their way back to the main hall, that left only the east side. However, if both sides of the house were the same size, it could take a while for both groups to find each other… or also the chance of missing them completely in such a large place, because who knew how far Wesker and the others had gotten?

In the training they had done for mapping out and clearing unfamiliar environments, the standard procedure had always been to stay on the first floor of a building, and clear it completely before moving into the upper or lower levels, meaning that the others from Alpha Team had most likely gone through one of the doors down where Redfield was looking. But if the east side of the mansion looped around to a staircase like the west side had done… maybe it would be better to stay upstairs and try to catch the team halfway.

Rain could be heard falling on the roof even harder now, with more rapid flashes of lightning and thunder coming in through the large stained glass window above the front door, somehow making this whole situation seem that much more ominous as the young man looked over at the two possible doors on the far side of the walkway. They looked pretty much identical, and placed similarly to the ones downstairs, so just like with the first doors that he had to decide on after getting separated from Valentine, Redfield took the quarter out of his pocket and flipped it.

"Tails." He said, lifting his hand up after catching it on his wrist. "All right, the _right_ door it is."

"How very _scientific_ of you." The short haired girl commented. "Chris, I don't want to seem like a downer here, but what if the best way to regroup with the others is to stay in this hall until they come back?"

The most obvious answer that he could give her was that if the others were forced to leave, than this hall was dangerous just like any other part of the mansion, possibly for ways they hadn't seen yet. The fact that the others might be in trouble was another factor, as was the fact that there were still a few missing members of Bravo Team to be found, and the sooner everyone was together, the sooner he could make sure that no one else ended up like Sullivan, Dewey, or Frost.

Motioning for Chambers to follow him, Redfield kept his pistol ready as he moved across the walkway, stopping to listen at the door, but hearing nothing but falling rain on the other side, as if someone had left open a window in the next room. The area beyond was not nearly as well illuminated as the main hall, with only a single circline fluorescent light fixture in the very center, and the floor made of dull wooden planks. In fact, everything in this room was dull and wooden, which confused him for a second before realizing that they were outside.

Wicker lawn furniture and small rounded tables provided most of the simple décor of this covered patio, and the trees at the edge of the clearing could be seen beyond the wooden guardrail during the next lightning flash. There was no way down from there, not that the young man was willing to climb down anyway because of all the rabid dogs out there, and the wind was blowing the rain right in their faces, making him decide to go back into the house… until something _else_ was revealed in the next flash of lightning.

No, not something, the young man realized when he moved closer to take a second look, _someone_ who was sitting on the floor against the guardrail. With only that small light fixture to see with when there was no lightning, Redfield was forced to turn on the small flashlight on the bottom of his pistol, kneeling down to see the face of the long haired man who had… lots and _lots_ of tiny wounds across his body.

"Who is it?" Chambers asked nervously as he lifted the head. "Chris, tell me who it is."

"It's Forest Speyer." Redfield replied sadly, looking at his fallen comrade. "Aw, jeez, what the hell happened to you?"

Whereas most of his body was covered in tiny little wounds, with more hidden beneath his clothes, Bravo Team's sharpshooter was even more of a mess when it was discovered that his face, neck, and torso had suffered much _more_ damage… to the point where large pieces of flesh were missing. At least out there in the fresh air the smell didn't get to linger as badly as it had with Sullivan, but… but what had been the cause of all those small wounds.

The answer to this question came when there was a flutter of movement as something small and black landed nearby on the guardrail, seeming to be irritated by the constant assault of falling rain, and then fluttering away back toward the cover of the distant trees. Redfield only saw it for a second, but could tell that it was a blackbird, like a crow or a raven, but large amounts of its feathers had been missing, and there had been a worm or… something worse hanging from its beak.

"Chris, look." The short haired girl said urgently, pointing off in the distance. "Over there by the trees."

Now that the flashes of lightning were happening more rapidly, the young man was able to look off into the distance, where he gasped after seeing _dozens_ of birds flying around. He couldn't be sure with the limited amount of light, but it looked like the birds were trying to fly back toward the mansion, only to get stopped by the rain and turn back, possibly out of some kind of instinct, like how the dogs had been hesitant to attack when Alpha Team was all together… oh God, was that what happened to Speyer?

Were the tiny marks all over his body from those birds? Was it even _possible_ for the little flying animals to become deranged and mutilated in the same way that those dogs and the people of the mansion had been? So, what… now there were zombies… zombie dogs… and now zombie God damn _birds_? Suddenly it felt like a rock was dropped into his stomach, realizing how lucky he and Chambers were that it had started raining, because…

Suddenly there was more movement, causing the young man to let out a startled scream when his dead comrade suddenly opened his eyes. The short haired girl let out a scream as well, but hers was a lot louder as Redfield tried to jump back from his squatting position, and the water all over the floor making him able to do little more than fall backwards. Just like all the others that the young man had seen in the house, Speyer's skin was discolored and his eyes glazed over, drooling out a mixture of saliva and blood; growling as it dove at the stunned young man.

The speed and ferocity of this attack caused Redfield's pistol to fall from his hands, and now with needing both arms to keep the zombie from biting him as it climbed on top of him in an effort to hold the young man down, there was no way for him to reach his knife. What he could do, however, was try to overpower what was left of Speyer, but only succeeded in pushing his deranged former friend back a bit… but Speyer was relentless, and Redfield didn't know how long he could…

 _Bang_! A small flash of light and noise, and Zombie Speyer's assault was stopped by the bullet that suddenly slammed into his forehead. All resistance from the zombie was stopped, allowing Redfield to push it off of himself while he scrambled backwards, looking at Speyer's body… and then looking up at Chambers, who appeared frozen in place with her weapon still aimed at where they were. The short haired girl's eyes were wide, and her mouth hanging partially open, and a single bullet casing lying on the floor at her feet.

She took a sudden, sort of stumbling step backwards, now breathing rapidly while lowering the pistol, and trying to sit down on one of the nearby wicker chairs, but causing both herself and it to fall over onto the floor after landing on the arm instead of the seat. The short haired girl didn't move from where she fell, now just kind of lying there as if she were in shock white the wind swept rain continued to fall onto her.

"Rebecca." Redfield called, retrieving his pistol and crawling over to her. "Rebecca, are you all right?"

Chambers didn't respond, even when he grabbed her by the arms and sat her up, but even shaking the short haired girl didn't seem to snap her out of it. This was to be expected, though, since the monster she had shot was not only a deranged killer, but had also been one of her teammates… a friend… but if any of them were going to get out of this mansion alive, well… there was only one way that the young man knew of to get her back into reality.

So he smacked her, just like what had needed to be done to some of the guys back in the Air Force who couldn't handle what they had seen on a mission, and just like with them, the short haired girl responded. Chambers looked around as if she were confused for a moment, but then looked over at Speyer's body, and suddenly hugged Redfield as she started to cry. This was fine… it was better for her to let it all out and start to deal, than having her brain lock up like it had been, so the young man just sat there with her for a while.


	14. Chapter 14 From Cradle to Grave

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Fourteen: From Cradle to Grave**

From what Valentine could see after leaving the office, the hallway made one last turn before ending at a metal door that was technically on Burton's designated side, leaving only one remaining door for her to investigate before they could move onto the next section of the house. Even more cautious since reading that letter in the office, the young woman very slowly opened the door, finding that it led into a very brightly lit room where there were a bunch of painted portraits on the wall.

The wooden floor was sealed and highly polished, while the light in the room came from not a single source, but several spotlight fixtures, one shining on each portrait as if this room was some kind of art gallery. A wall partially divided the room, with more portraits hung on the other side when she made her way around, with the collection ending at a much larger portrait with a metal plate directly underneath, which read:

 _THE END OF LIFE_

An odd title for a painting, but one that made more sense once she saw that the depicted scene was that of an elderly man lying in bed surrounded by people who must've been family members. Of course, now that Valentine took a second look at the others hanging around the gallery, she saw that each one was a depiction of different stages of a man's life… and stranger, still, was the fact that there was a little button underneath the bottom of the frame of each one, including the big one she had examined.

There was also one that the young woman hadn't seen when first entering the gallery, one that was behind the door, equal in size to the one called _end of life_ , but brighter and more cherry; blue skies and angles floating around the clouds, while some kind of celebration was happening down in the village below. Unlike all the other portraits, there was no small button underneath, but there _was_ a metal plate that read:

 _FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE_

So what was with the whole _life theme_ and the buttons underneath the other portraits? If they were switches to control the individual lights, then why did the very first one not have a button, so what was this all about? Suddenly a loud knocking sound grabbed her attention, making the young woman gasp while looking up toward it, at first seeing only a window that wrapped around the whole room just below the ceiling, but the glass only maybe… five or six inches tall.

But where had the knocking sound come from? Looking up at the window, Valentine could only see darkness, not even falling rain… at least until the next lightning flash. In that brief flash of light, the young woman was able to see that there were birds, at least a couple dozen little black birds sitting on the small ledge just outside the glass, most likely where they were protected from the storm by the window's upper ledge. The disturbing part about all this, though was that they were all facing the glass and looking down… looking at _her_.

With the window acting as a barrier, there was no danger of the birds getting inside… of course, why did she suddenly feel like a bunch of crows were any kind of threat in the first place? They were just birds looking for shelter from the storm, and Valentine was about to dismiss it as such, but then there was a another even harder knocking sound, followed by a barely audible _crack_ when one of the birds pecked the glass hard enough to break off part of its beak to damage the window… and not reacting to the pain.

Okay, maybe shouldn't spend too much time in this room, she thought, regardless of whether or not the bad feeling she was getting from the birds was justified. After all, Burton was out in the hall waiting for her, so if she was going to figure out what was going on with this gallery, it was going to have to be done fast. Moving over to the wall right under the window with her back against it so that the birds could no longer see her, Valentine went over what little information she had in her head.

"Two portraits, _end of life_ and _cradle to grave_." She said to herself, next looking at the other pictures. "A whole bunch of other pictures showing different stages of life, and buttons under each one, almost like…

An idea about the buttons and portraits now popped into her head, but it was honestly kind of stupid. What if… what if instead of being an art gallery, this was some kind of overly elaborate way for a rich person to hide something valuable, like… like Jesus, Valentine thought to herself, she was starting to sound like one of her dad's old _Bond_ films. Next she'd be imagining that this whole place was owned by _Dr. No_ , and that a missile was about to be launched.

Then again, if she were a rich old woman with nothing better to do than come up with weird ways to hide her valuables, this was exactly the kind of thing that could be used with no one ever caring enough to investigate, so why not? The only thing that she could think of to do was follow the timeline represented in the pictures, starting with the one with the youngest subject, a newborn baby, and pushing the button.

Still not wanting to take her eyes off the birds in the window, Valentine was startled when the light cast over the portrait turned orange with the _click_ of the button, but nothing else happened, aside from some of the crows starting to _caw_ a little more frequently. Continuing to follow the timeline while trying not to excite the birds with any more movement than necessary, the young woman kept following the timeline, moving through the subject's childhood, into adulthood, and through middle-aged so that eventually every light had been changed to orange, leaving only the end of life.

"Well, here goes." She said, pushing the last button. "Hopefully this does something useful."

After nearly getting crushed to death trying to get the shotgun from the other room, the young woman was ready to run after hearing the final _click_ , but instead of the walls collapsing or the floor falling out from under her, there was a sliding sound from behind the portrait. The whole thing swung open an instant later as if the door to a small hidden safe, revealing a hidden shelf with… something odd sitting there. It looked kind of like a long nail with a really big, rounded head, but the whole thing was a dark blue color, looking like colored glass, but sturdy and metal, while the head was made in the shape of a kind of… cat eye?

She didn't really understand what the purpose of this blue object was, but after going through that whole puzzle, she stowed the item inside one of the empty pouches on her belt, but then more glass was heard cracking as Valentine started toward the door. The crows outside were fluttering around as if in a frenzy during the next lightning flash, and that same bird who broke its beak trying to get through into the house, was now throwing itself at the glass like a madman in a mental asylum, until there was a tiny splatter of blood when it broke through.

The crow that actually put the hole in the window crashed lifelessly to the floor, but the others immediately started pushing and climbing over each other to get through the opening, with a steady line of them all cawing like mad while flying right toward her. _Boom!_ Raising her shotgun and pulling the trigger, the nearest crow and all the others behind it were destroyed in a cloud of blood and feathers, but the shell had also hit the glass, creating an even bigger entrance for the birds to get in.

With the room now filling with caws and feathers, the young woman ran for her life, not bothering to stop long enough to shoot again, and throwing the door open as soon as she reached it. Stumbling out into the hall, there was a startled _squawk_ when she slammed the door right onto one of the pursuing birds, and thankfully the birds were easier to push back with a door than the dogs had been. Forcing it closed, and then sitting down on the floor while leaning against it, Valentine could hear the crows still flying around and cawing through the gallery, mostly at the door, but at least now they couldn't get to her, and with Burton to watch her back…

"Barry?" She called, looking up and down the hallway. "Hey, Barry, where'd you go?"

No response, and now aside from the slowly fading sounds of the crows inside the gallery, everything was falling silent again. No problem, she thought while slowly getting to her feet, the big man was probably just investigating the last door on his side of the hallway, so Valentine followed it around the corner to the metal door at the very end, pushing it open, and… wait a second, this door was _locked_. Feeling even sturdier than the one she had lost Redfield behind, the slightly rusted metal barrier didn't budge at all when she tried it, but instead of finding some kind of keyhole, there was a weird impression in a metal plate on the wall next to it.

At first the young woman thought maybe it was for the blue object that she found, but it wasn't even close to the right shape, so… where had Burton gone? Just to make sure, she pounded on the door, calling his name loudly a few times, but stopping after there was still no response. He wouldn't have backtracked without telling her, so if he hadn't gone through this door, and wasn't inside the others the two of them had checked, this left only that door he said went into another hallway.

"Barry?" She called, trying to be quiet while opening it. "Barry, come on, where are you?"

She didn't want to move onto another area without knowing where Burton was, but there was little choice since he wasn't answering, forcing the young woman to step into a corridor that was decorated in a kind of dull, yellowish-brown wallpaper that… no _sane_ person could have possibly wanted. No lights at first, though, leaving the first stretch of hallway darkened until it opened up into a tall, carpeted stairwell.

There was a large chandelier at the top, and although not as grand as the one inside the main hall, it lit up the whole stairwell, the part of the walkway above that she could see… and the small door behind the stairs that Valentine had almost missed completely. Maybe Burton had gone inside the small door, and was planning on coming back with whatever he found, so the young woman opened the door to find… nothing.

Aside from a few bags of old fertilizer, and a lightbulb above the door that was flickering, there was nothing inside this small storage room, most importantly not the big man she was looking for. Now Valentine was starting to get worried about him, and also… honestly, she really did _not_ want to be alone in this place again. Why? Why did he have to just run off like that, the young woman wondered as she went back into the stairwell?

Looks like there was nowhere for her to go but up at this point.


	15. Chapter 15 One Tough Zombie

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Fifteen: One Tough Zombie**

It took a while for Chambers to calm down after the whole incident with Speyer, and even longer after Redfield was forced to scavenge the extra ammo their teammate had been carrying. Eventually, though, the short haired girl had recovered enough for the two of them to return back inside the mansion, which was a good thing because those crows kept trying to fly at them through the rain, with no guarantee how long the storm would keep up.

She was a lot quieter now as they moved toward the only unexplored door on this level of the main hall, but given what Chambers had just been forced to do, it was understandable. So they moved on, with the young man slowly opening the door, to reveal a carpeted, but dimly lit hallway with hardwood walls. A few paintings and small display cases were spaced throughout, but the details of each were difficult to see, since the only light came from a bunch of wall-mounted fixtures that were shaped like candelabras, with tiny lightbulbs that were apparently supposed to simulate candlelight.

Using the same strategy of clearing out the whole corridor before trying any doors, the two of them walked all the way down and around the corner to where it ended, in total passing three doors on the right, but only a single one on the left. Now that this darkened hallway itself was cleared without incident, the two of them started heading back in order to examine each door in order, so not to get…

Suddenly the door back to the main hall was thrown open, causing Chambers to cry out in fright as a roaring figure was revealed to be standing there in the increased light. It took Redfield a moment to realize that it was _Speyer_ , still alive… well, sort of, and enraged to the point where he started running down the hall toward them, moving much faster and more aggressively than the other zombies had done up until this point.

 _Bang! Bang!_ Raising his pistol and shooting mostly out of reflex, the first bullet making their former teammate twitch when it hit him in the shoulder, and the second striking him in the leg, causing Speyer to stumble sideways and shatter one of the small display cases when he practically dove right through it. Still growling as he picked himself up, the zombie didn't show any signs of being hindered in the slightest by either wound, but Speyer did collapse when the next shot struck him in the face, sliding a bit when he landed face first on the carpet.

"What… the… fuck?" Redfield whispered, looking down at him. "None of the others did that, so why…

Snarling again as he grabbed for the young man's feet, now it was Redfield who cried out in fright, stumbling backwards to avoid Speyer's grasp, only to have the zombie pull itself back to its feet, and rush at him again as soon as it was standing. _Bang! Bang!_ More gunshots, this time from Chambers as she stepped forward, striking their former teammate in the stomach and in the hand, actually keeping Speyer from grabbing the young man by the throat, and giving him the time to pull back and ram his fist into the zombie's jaw.

There was enough force behind the blow to knock Speyer down, but not to stop him from growling while getting to his feet, so Redfield shot him one more time in the leg, before pulling open the only door on the left side of the hallway, and grabbing the short haired girl by the forearm to drag her along as he ran inside. Not that there was any guarantee that this room would be safe, as he pulled the door shut and held it there against the clawing and pulling of their former teammate… and of course, there was no other door to get out.

Again dramatically changing style just like every other room in the mansion, this place had tile floor, walls that were some kind of obviously fake brick, and a dual fluorescent light fixture that brilliantly illuminated the dozen or so sets of armor… like, old museum armor from the age of knights and jousting. Whoever owned the house must've been a collector, because each of the armor sets was complete, each with a polearm weapon such as lances and double blade battleaxes.

No guns, though… not that bullets were doing much against this particular zombie anyway, and now Redfield had to brace his leg against the wall next to the doorknob to keep Speyer from pulling it open. For a deranged, mindless zombie, their former teammate was surprisingly relentless, still growling and snarling as he struck, clawed, and pulled at the door in an attempt to get to them. Unfortunately, the young man was not going to be able to hold the door shut forever, and there was no lock, but… hey, maybe they could use some of the things around them.

"Rebecca, come hold this door; I got a plan." He said, still bracing with his leg. "I'm gonna grab a lance, and spear him when he comes through the door, okay? Then I'm gonna hold him there, while you grab one of the battleaxes, and slice his God damn head off, got it?"

The look on the short haired girl's face as she came over to try holding the door shut, said that she didn't really get it, but hopefully everything would become clear to her once the sequence of events started. Honestly, this whole idea came from ridiculous movie that his sister liked, called _The Evil Dead_ , in which zombies had to be chopped up in order to keep them dead, or something like that… the whole thing was stupid as far as he was concerned, but as he picked up a lance and pointed it toward the door, maybe the guys who made that movie were onto something.

On his signal, Chambers pushed open the door, not that she would have been able to keep it closed for much longer with the way she was struggling, giving her time to move out of the way while Speyer stumbled backwards. The young man then rushed forward, impaling their former teammate right through the stomach with enough force to make the tip stick into the wall behind him, and now all he had to do was hold Speyer there while the short haired girl picked up a battleaxe.

All right, maybe he hadn't thought this completely through; the bladed weapon being heavy enough for someone _his_ size, while Chambers was significantly smaller, but eventually she was able to get the axe off its stand… kind of stumbling with it while carrying the weapon into the hallway, and taking a really slow swing… that nearly hit the young man in the arm, and took out one of the small lights, raining a small amount of glass down on them.

"Here, switch with me!" He exclaimed, grabbing the axe and putting her hands on the lance. "Just… just hold him still!"

She was now having more trouble restraining their former teammate than swinging the axe, with the zombie dragging her a few steps down the hall in each direction before she was able to regain control. Not wanting to risk Speyer getting free, Redfield swung the axe, but his aim was a little off, causing the head to sink into the zombie's arm instead. The good news was that it cleaved off his arm completely, but now the blade was stuck in the wall to the point where he couldn't pull it back out.

It was then that Chambers lost her grip on the lance, allowing Speyer to turn and rush at the young man, who was able to grab onto the lance… but unable to keep himself from falling on his back. So now the zombie was impaled, partially up in the air while Redfield struggled to keep it from falling over, and the fingernails of their former teammate were now slashing through the air just inches from his face. By this time the young man's arms were shaking with the effort, and he was just starting to lose his grip on the lance, when there was a flash of movement from behind Speyer.

This movement came from the short haired girl finally managing to properly swing the battleaxe, taking the zombie's head completely off in the movement, but then continuing to spin from the momentum, and fall on her face. As for their former teammate, decapitation seemed to do the trick, although the young man would never tell his sister where he had gotten the idea from, and he could only gasp with relief after finally being able to let go of the lance so that the body collapsed.

"Are you okay, Chris?" Chambers asked, just now sitting up. "Did I get him?"

"Yeah, Rebecca… you got him." Redfield replied, content to lie there catching his breath. "Holy shit."

Taking a little longer than he imagined to get up, the young man needed a little help from her after managing to get up to his hands and knees, but going no further. Well, at least they had cleared the only room on the left side of the hallway, but now that Speyer had been dealt with, hopefully for the last time, it was time for the two of them to go back to the first door on the right to make sure that they didn't miss anything, but waiting until he caught his breath enough to no longer have to lean on her as they walked.

Chambers opened the door this time, revealing another small sitting room, this one containing a small round table and an unused fireplace, along with a long bookcase as if this were used as someone's private, well… more of a reading room more than a study. Toward the other side of the room there was another door, and not much of interest in this place, so the two of them moved to go and check it out, at least to see if it led into another room or hallway.

"All right, this time let's get the drop on anything inside." The young man whispered. "I'll open it on the count of three, okay? One… two…

Suddenly the door was thrown open, and Redfield couldn't do anything except scream as he was tackled to the floor by the wild-eyed figure that came running through. Hitting his head on the way down, the young man reflexively pushed the attacking figure away so that it fell onto the floor next to him, scrambling to roll over so that he could aim his pistol before the next attack, only to be surprised when Chambers stopped him.

"Chris, no!" The short haired girl yelled, pushing the pistol off target. "No! Look, it's _Richard Aiken_!"


	16. Chapter 16 The East Stairwell

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Sixteen: The East Stairwell**

Whoever had built this mansion was certainly a fan of fireplaces and sitting rooms at the end of hallways that were just… dead ends, Valentine thought as she looked around at the stacked piles of books and old newspapers next to the largest arm-chair. Nothing useful, though, a bunch of books about different kinds of sciences, much like in the small office downstairs where she had found Martin Crackhorn's letter to Alma. The newspapers were from all different sources around the country; _New York Times_ , _USA Today_ , _The Washington Post_ … as well as local sources, such as _The Raccoon Press_.

A quick scan of the publication dates showed that the newspapers went back several years, and a few of the local ones had articles about STARS more high-profile cases, but other than that, there was really nothing remarkable about them. Not much else inside this small sitting room, either, which was nice because the last one was where she had found Sullivan, so the young woman was about to start back down the hallway toward the stairs, when a groaning sound reached her ears, followed by the shuffling sound of another… _zombie_.

Valentine hated using that word to describe the shambling, aggressive, murderous, seemingly brain-dead… cannibals who were roaming the halls of this place. At first, after making her way up the creaking, wooden staircase to the second floor of the house, the young woman had been relieved to not see any of them around when she looked left and right, down the hallway that was at the top. Most of one side was taken up by the stairwell and its long, wooden guardrail, but on the other side there were a total of three more doors that needed to be checked out in her search for the others… leading to her discovery of the sitting room while clearing out the hallway itself.

 _Bang_! When she had heard the deranged man approaching from behind, he was still a good distance down the hall, so without having to rush this time, Valentine raised her pistol and pulled the trigger. She had always been a pretty good shot, although certainly not a _trophy winner_ like Redfield, but good enough to hit the zombie in the forehead, causing it to fall sideways onto the guardrail… and then a loud _smack_ when he tumbled right over, and struck the floor below. Of course, she had already cleared out the whole hallway before checking out the sitting room… so where had this one come from?

"Barry?" She called again, letting herself get a little louder this time. "Barry, come on, where the hell did you go?"

Stopping to listen, the young woman heard nothing but the pouring rain outside, followed by lightning through the window, and a rumbling of thunder, but no more footsteps or groans. Being in this mansion was a whole lot scarier now that Burton had vanished along with Redfield and Wesker, not just because of the zombies and dogs, but because now there was no one to help her if she stumbled into another trap like with that crusher thing downstairs.

One thing was for certain, the young woman thought as she tried the first door she came to while moving back toward the stairs, Chief Irons was going to have one _hell_ of a mission report on his desk, come Monday morning. This door was unlocked, like so many others in this place, opening up into a carpeted room with blue wallpaper… and two completely different styles of design, as if it had once been two different areas, and someone had just removed the wall one day.

The right half of the room was made as a bedroom, illuminated by a small lamp that was sitting on the nightstand. The bed was unmade, and one of the drawers had been left open, as if whoever had slept in this place had gotten a pretty rude awakening one day… but didn't seem to leave anything useful inside the nightstand when they left… unless Valentine was interested in some pencils or an old _Playboy_ magazine. Couldn't have been anything _useful_ like shotgun shells, could it?

She only had a small amount of shells for the big weapon, so the young woman kept it slung over her back in order to keep herself from using it for anything but emergencies… not that this whole _cluster-fuck_ of a mission wasn't a God damn emergency in itself. Now walking over to the left side of the room, a kind of… specimen display area that was bathed in the bright white light of a fluorescent bulb, Valentine started to look around for anything that could help her out, but this whole place was a mess as if someone had already searched through it, and…

But who could have gone through this stuff unless… had Burton already made his way up there and checked around? If so, then why had he gone off on his own, and explored so far ahead without backup, or at least telling Valentine where he was? Still, if it _had_ been the big man who went through this place, there was no sign of him now, and the current condition of the room made it almost impossible for anyone coming through after him to make sense of it all.

There were papers scattered all across the desk and below on the floor, while one of the specimen cases, a lot of which contained preserved insects or what looked like fishing lures, had the glass case shattered as if someone had tried to force it open. This left little pieces of glass and crushed insects on the floor right under it… but no sign of who had done it or what they were looking for.

Lastly, the only remaining feature of this half of the room was a very large, empty fish tank full of water that sat on top of a sturdy looking wooden cabinet. Strange, though… on the corner of the fish tank was one of the preserved insect specimens… a small, brightly colored bee that had apparently been just left sitting there, but… it looked so lifelike when she moved to get a closer look at it, that…

Suddenly letting out a startled scream as the insect, which she had thought was a specimen, flew up right at her face, the young woman stumbled backwards, hitting the heel of her boot on the corner of the cabinet, and starting to fall backwards. Reflexively flailing her arms to catch herself, Valentine's fall was stopped when she grabbed onto the corner of the fish tank… only to pull it over so that its glass shattered, spilling its water all over the floor at the same time that she fell.

"God… fucking _damn it_!" She yelled, punching the floor, before trying to get up before the water reached her. "I _hate_ this fucking place!"

The young woman went to kick some of the remaining glass from the frame, but then her boot got caught, causing her to slip and fall so that her rear went right into the water, making her even angrier. For a moment, just a _moment_ , Valentine was so furious that she considered forgetting all about the others and the mission, and just taking her chances with those dogs out in the forest, but then while she was sitting there trying to get her bootlaces freed from the tank's broken frame… she saw something… something that had been hidden behind the tank.

A small depression was fitted into the wall, right there the dirtiest part of the tank kept anyone from seeing it, and on the shelf of this depression was an odd little metal… crest with a pattern etched onto it, but… actually, the shape of the whole thing looked kind of familiar, as if the young woman had just seen it. That's when it hit her; the shape looked familiar because she had _just seen it_ … downstairs, next to that locked door at the end of where Burton had vanished… it looked like the impression on that plate.

Naturally, Valentine's first instinct was to run back downstairs, and use this crest thing to unlock that door, but then again… if the door had been locked the entire time, then what were the odds of the big man having somehow gone through? No, it made more sense to keep going where she was; following this hallway in the hopes of either catching up to Burton, or finding Wesker and Redfield. So she put the crest into her pouch along with that blue cat-eye thing, and tried to wipe some of the water off herself as she left the room.

"I hope this house _burns down_ after we leave." She grumbled to herself. "Maybe come back and do it _myself_ , after all this crap gets sorted out."

Valentine left a few watery footprints across the wooden floor after heading back out into the hallway, but stopped before checking the other doors, since she had somehow managed to miss that zombie near the sitting room a few minutes before. Thankfully there were no others around, aside from the one whose brains were splattered across the floor at the bottom of the stairwell, leaving the young woman free to clear out the rest before moving on… a door right at the end, and one at the end of a short stretch around the corner from there.

Deciding to go around the corner first this time, the young woman listened at the door before opening it, and sure enough there was yet another hallway waiting for her, this one dimly lit by some light fixtures that were supposed to simulate candles. However, she was not ready to go in there just yet, so she closed the door and went back to the other one. Of course, this one was locked, but without some weird trick to opening it, the keyhole was no match for her skills with a lock-pick.

Yes, it was unlikely that Burton or any of the others had gone through there since the door was locked, but should she get all the way around to the main hall without finding anyone else, the young woman wanted to have to do as little backtracking as possible… God, that was an awful thought… with as big as this mansion was, if all of them somehow missed each other, then it could take _days_ to run into each other again.

A few seconds later the lock clicked open, and this door opened into a small library… no, it really wasn't big enough to be considered a _library_ … maybe more like someone's private study. Short bookshelves lined the walls, most of these ones being works of fiction, unlike in the small office and sitting room, and all of it centered around a large reading desk. Plenty of light in this room, too, big covered fixture mounted on the ceiling, and two lamps on the desk, one of which had burned out.

Apparently the owner of the desk was an amateur artist as well, but… actually when Valentine picked up the small stack of hand-drawn pencil-sketches, she realized that they weren't amateur at all, but were really quite detailed, and accurate… and _familiar_. Especially the first one, being of a dog… a _Doberman Pinscher_ , more specifically… but missing an eye, and covered in patches of missing skin and muscle tissue… like the ones outside.

The next drawing was of some kind of… what the hell was this, a _plant_ … maybe? Like a big tree… maybe if it had been in color and not just a pencil sketch, it would have been easier to figure out, but it was like a big tree with vines or something, and the next one was even stranger… a kind of big, hulking, some kind of creature, that again was hard to make out because of the single color of the pencil.

Whatever, Valentine thought, setting the pages back down, so maybe the artist saw one of those dogs out the window before this whole mess started, and then got his imagination all fired up. At least there had been no drawings of those zombies, just a spider that looked pretty normal, and some kind of shark, both images visible when the pages moved while she was setting them down. All right, this room was empty, so now it was time for her to go back to that darkened hallway with the candle fixtures… hopefully finding the others before something happened to them.


	17. Chapter 17 The Serum

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Seventeen: The Serum**

If Chambers had not been there to prevent him from reflexively shooting what he thought was another one of those zombies, then Redfield might very well have shot the wounded Richard Aiken, member of Bravo Team, who was now writhing in agony on the floor next to him. There was a massive wound across his right arm and shoulder… wait, no, more like a series of smaller wounds… looking like he had been stabbed several times with something very large, going in a half circle.

"Richard!" The short haired girl called out, kneeling down with him. "Richard, what happened?!"

The man was in bad shape, looking like he had been caught in a bear trap made of… maybe _railroad spikes_? Aiken's wounds were huge, but there was surprisingly little blood, which made no sense at all, until the young man noticed the lines of discoloration… a kind of purplish hue that was very slowly spreading out from the wound, and following the pathways of the man's veins underneath his skin.

"Oh, my God… is this… _poison_?!" Redfield asked, pointing to the spreading color. "Rebecca, has he been poisoned?! We need to, uh… a _tourniquet_ , yeah… we need to tie a tourniquet so the poison doesn't spread, here… we can use my shirt."

"Chris, stop, the wound's on his _torso_." Chambers replied, stopping him from stripping down. "There's nothing to tie off to block its spread, and even if I had some anti-venom, I couldn't use it, because we don't even know what did this."

"S… sn… s…" The man tried to yell out, but mostly gurgling and coughing. "S… sn… _snake_! B… bi… b… _big_ … s… sn… _snake_!"

Aiken motioned with his now shaking arm, as if trying to point in the direction from which he came, but then the tremors overtook his whole body, with the short haired girl somehow remaining mostly calm while telling Redfield to _hold him down_ , and _stick something in his mouth_. Aiken was having some kind of a seizure, most likely from his body reacting to the poison, and now he was retching like he was trying to vomit, but all that came up was saliva and more coughing.

"Hang on, buddy, hang on!" The young man exclaimed, trying his best to hold Aiken down. "You're saying there's _nothing_ you can do, Rebecca?! There's nothing at all that you can use to help him?!"

"Chris, that's it!" Chambers replied, almost screaming with sudden excitement. "Remember the room where you found me? The one with all those jars and bottles? I think I saw… hell, I don't know, but it's our only chance! Here, hold his head and keep him still; I'll be right back!"

Redfield was already doing most of the holding, so it was easy for the short haired girl to get up and run toward the exit; Redfield calling for her the whole time, even when she pushed open the door, and ran back into the dimly lit hallway where they had fought off what was left of Speyer. Turning back toward the main hall, Chambers ran as fast as she could, crossing the walkway, and pulling open the doors that led to the area above the dining hall… where she had to break pace because of the two zombies that she had forgotten about.

Crouching down, and moving up to the guardrail where the light wasn't so good, the short haired girl looked across to the other side of the walkway, where the two zombies, appearing no longer hobbled by Redfield's bullets to their legs, were now once again on the wrong side. The first time she had come through this area, the two groaning cannibals had been blocking the door to the main hall, and now they were at the door on the opposite side.

"You can do this, Rebecca." She said to herself, readying her pistol. "You _have_ to do this… for Richard."

The wounded man on the other side of the house was not just another teammate to her, and in fact, she and Aiken had been dating since like, her _third_ day with the RPD… and this was her third _month_. Not that Chambers was starting to hear wedding bells or anything like that, but she _really_ liked him, and Aiken had been the first guy that she had met who wasn't intimidated by her having a Master's Degree at age nineteen, and she damn sure wasn't going to lose him to some… _big snake_ , or whatever he had been trying to say.

 _Bang! Bang!_ Standing up, and walking toward the two zombies while shooting, the short haired girl was proud of her self for being able to hit one of them in the side of the head… even though her first bullet had missed so badly that there was a new hole in the doorframe between them. Okay, that was one of them down, the deranged man collapsing while discolored blood seeped out of the wound, so if she could just do that one more time, then the path would be clear.

 _Bang! Bang!_ Nope, not doing so good this time; another hole in the wall, the zombie groaning after taking an ineffective shot to the stomach, and then one in the floor not even close to its foot? She hadn't even been _aiming_ that way, how in the hell could Chambers' shot have been that far off? Now the zombie was shambling its way closer, with arms outstretched to grab her as she backed away, and with every step closer that this monster got, the worse the short haired girl's aim became.

Firing off three more shots, and her hands shaking so badly that she hit pretty much everything in the room that _wasn't_ a zombie, it was only a matter of time before she found herself backed up against the short guardrail. Now just about close enough to grab her, the snarling zombie suddenly jolted forward with hands reached out, and out of rather embarrassing reflex, Chambers dropped down while screaming and putting up her arms to protect herself… but the zombie didn't attack.

In fact, when she finally lowered her arms and opened her eyes, the deranged cannibal was just… _gone_. It took her a second to figure out what had happened, but after looking over the guardrail at the zombie lying on the floor below with a broken neck, the short haired girl realized that it had must've fallen over the railing when she had ducked down during its attempt to grab her. Regardless of how it had happened, _both_ zombies had been dealt with, leaving her free to resume running toward the far door, where Chambers pulled it open, and reentered the area with the painfully yellow wallpaper.

"It's just down and behind the stairs." She said to herself, rounding the corner, and spotting the way down. "It's just down and around the stairs, you're gonna make it in…

The words of encouragement that she had been saying to herself suddenly became a scream, after circling around the stairwell, past those two locked doors, and around to the wooden stairs themselves… and into the waiting arms of the _other_ zombie that she had forgotten about. Chambers felt like she should have remembered this one, the one that she and Redfield had snuck past after getting out of that room downstairs, but she hadn't, and now there was nothing to stop the monster from wrapping its arms around her.

Fortunately… no, more like _miraculously_ , she had been running so fast that the momentum was enough to make the zombie lose its balance… at the top of the stairs. This wasn't enough to make it let go of her, but the deranged cannibal _did_ break her fall as they tumbled together down the stairs, but she found herself freed when one of the zombie's arms struck the edge of one of the stairs with a loud _crack_ , breaking it at the elbow.

Now at the bottom of the stairs, on the hardwood floor with the door to her destination in sight, the short haired girl crawled away from her attacker, who seemed stunned, lying on his back on the last few stairs. She was kind of sore and dizzy, herself, unable to get up at the moment, but still crawling toward the door… but then her progress was stopped when something locked around her foot… pulling her backwards. It was the zombie, no longer stunned, and now crawling after her.

"Let go!" She screamed, kicking at its face with her other foot. "Let go of me, you… you _freak_!"

Landing a few solid blows to her attacker's face, including one that resulted in a tooth falling out, the short haired girl was in the middle of trying to pull her foot away from its still working arm, when the deranged cannibal sunk its teeth into the hard rubber sole of her boot. If it had bitten down on anywhere else on her foot, Chambers would have probably have been in a lot of trouble, but the rubber sole held while she reached for her pistol… only to find that it was lying on the floor a short distance away.

Figuring that she must've dropped it during the tumble down the stairs, she rolled toward it, twisting her body enough so that the zombie lost another tooth, and it's working arm lost its grip on her other leg when she finally worked herself free. It started crawling after her the instant that she pulled free, scrambling over to the fallen pistol, and hardly trying to aim at all while turning back toward it and pulling the trigger.

 _Bang_! A small hole appeared in the center of the crawling zombie's forehead, causing it to freeze in place for a moment before collapsing just like the others had, and it wasn't the only one. Chambers also needed a moment, lying on her back in the center of the floor, and trying to get her labored breathing back under control, and not being able to get up until it felt like her heart _wasn't_ trying to pry its way out of her chest with a crowbar. Can't stop now, she thought, Aiken needed her, and the room was right there… _right there_.

With a groan of agony and soreness that wasn't unlike the zombies', the short haired girl rolled over and pulled herself up to her feet, stumbling a little as she moved over to the door around behind the stairs, and pulled it open. The room inside was just like she remembered, as was the cabinet with all the vials and bottles, but there were so many that she was afraid there wouldn't be any of the anti-venom that was needed for the wounded man upstairs.

"Spiders, toads, plants… sting ray?" She said while reading the labels. "Jellyfish, beetles… snake! Snake! Snake, I found it!"

Grabbing the desired bottle, and having to go back after almost forgetting to grab a syringe to go along with it, Chambers ran out of the room, and up the stairs, since this time she _knew_ that there were no more zombies in her way. That poison had been spreading pretty fast when she'd left, this thought making her move even faster; through the yellow room, around the dining hall walkway, and across the upper level of the main hall.

Almost there now, the short haired girl thought as she pulled open the door into the dimly lit hallway, but the lighting difference between their and the main hall was so great that her eyes hadn't even had time to adjust before running right into _another_ figure who was coming from the other way. Screaming as she fell onto her rear, and trying to aim her pistol… it was then that Chambers realized that the other figure had screamed and fallen down as well… also aiming a pistol at her.

"What the… Corporal Valentine?" She asked, squinting so that her eyes would adjust. "Jill, is that really you?"

"Rebecca… Chambers?" The young woman replied, just as confused sounding. "Where have you…

There was no time to talk since Aiken needed the anti-venom in her hands, so Chambers cut off Valentine's question by grabbing her by the arm, and then pulling her along into the other room after getting to her feet. This whole run to get the serum had taken far too long, already, and the short haired girl could always fill Valentine back in after Richard had been taken care of… if he was even still alive.


	18. Chapter 18 Leaving the Mansion

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Eighteen: Leaving the Mansion**

A lot had happened since Valentine stepped out into that dimly lit hallway on the second floor of the mansion, beginning with her discovery of the decapitated body of Forest Speyer, lying there in the middle of the floor, surrounded by a collection of… medieval weapons that had apparently been used to do him in. Of course, that hadn't been _half_ as shocking as it had been to run into Rebecca Chambers, the Rookie of Bravo Team, who was on her way to meet up with both Redfield and Aiken with a serum for… snake bites?

Their wounded man, Richard Aiken, started to improve shortly after the short haired girl gave him a shot; his breathing returning to normal, and the discolored pattern in his veins slowly retreating, while his body temperature went back to normal. It was best not to move the man until the serum ran its course, so in the meantime Valentine and Redfield updated each other on what had happened to each of them since initially separating in the west wing.

From the sound of it, Redfield had been going through just as much hell and horror as she had been, but he also had not seen Wesker or Burton. Lastly, now that Aiken had been found, there was only one member of Bravo Team who was unaccounted for… the team's Captain, Enrico Marini. There had been no sign of him in any of the areas that they had investigated, and Chambers hadn't seen him, so… maybe once Aiken recovered, _he_ would know something.

"I think he's going to be okay." Chambers said, putting her hand on his forehead after another minute or so had passed. "We can't move him for a while, though… at least not until he comes around on his own."

Now instead of writhing on the ground in agony, it was more like the wounded man was sleeping; taking in and then letting out one slow breath after another, eyes closed, and now nearly all the discoloration of the poison having vanished from his veins. The immediate crisis was now over, but there was still the matter of their missing comrades, and although having no intention of heading into the room where Aiken had just come from, Valentine desperately wanted to get back to the mission.

"If there is a snake _that_ big in there, then it can _stay_ in there." Redfield commented, looking toward the door in question. "At least until we can go in and deal with it at full strength… so no one goes through _that_ door until we find Barry, Wesker, and Enrico, agreed?"

"Fine with me." The young woman replied, not too eager to face something with teeth like _that_. "But if we can't move Richard until the serum finishes working, then how are we going to keep looking for the others? I mean… we can't just _leave_ him here."

"I'll stay with him." Chambers quickly answered as she tried, not very successfully, to bandage the bite marks. "You two can keep looking for the others, and I'll lock the door, and we won't go anywhere until you get back."

Valentine didn't particularly _like_ the idea of splitting up again, but they couldn't just put the entire mission on hold for… however long it was going to be until Aiken recovered. Besides, based on each of their reports so far, it looked like almost the entire mansion had been gone over, so the danger to Aiken and Chambers was reduced… at least as much as it could be given the circumstances. So Redfield made the short haired girl promise that the two of them would not go anywhere until they got back, and then he and the young woman headed back into the dimly lit hall.

Valentine was the one who had cleared beyond this part of the mansion, so she led the way, the two of them heading all the way to the end, and through the door into the east stairwell. But where had Burton gone, she wondered as they moved back down the stairs, past the zombie who had taken the swan-dive over the railing earlier. With the thorough pattern of exploration that both she and the young man had used for clearing out the house, there was literally nowhere left for the big man to have gone… let alone Wesker and Marini.

"Okay, here it is." She said when they reached the door in question. "I'm pretty sure this thing I found will fit in the impression here."

Taking the small object out of her pouch, and then inserting it into the depression on the metal plate next to the door, there was a hard click, and just like that the metal door was unlocked. The scent of grass and fuel was there to meet the two of them when it was pulled open, making the young woman worry that they had found another door that simply led outside to where the dogs were waiting, like last time… but instead she found herself walking into a kind of toolshed.

A single, circulene fluorescent bulb on the ceiling revealed that this tiny room was filled with lawn mowers lined up against one wall, weed-eaters mounted on hooks covering another, most of which were still covered with grass from the last time they were used, although that grass had long dried out and turned brown. That explained the grass smell, and as for the fuel, there were a couple gas cans sitting in the corner… not that the mixed gas used by weed-eaters was going to be of much help to them.

Past those tools, as well as some rakes and other things such as hedge trimmers, was another door, also metal and even more rusted than the last one. Based on how loudly the pouring rain could be heard coming down onto the roof of the toolshed, this door was going to lead outside, and sure enough, the darkness of night was waiting for them when Redfield opened the door just enough to peek through. After what had happened last time, Valentine expected him to have to pull it shut before more of those dogs attacked, but instead the young man pushed it the rest of the way open.

Through the rain, which was coming down even harder now, the young woman could see that instead of simply looking at a clearing and forest, she was now at the edge of some kind of enclosed courtyard. Stone pavers covered the ground, while decorative hedges provided most of the décor, along with a couple of small statues, and a large wooden gazebo, all of which was illuminated by bright fixtures, almost like street lights that were mounted along the top of the ten foot stone wall that surrounded… everything.

So was this a lavish courtyard, or a prison, the young woman wondered? There was just no logical reason to have such high, sturdy walls, but at least they seemed to keep the dogs out, since Valentine didn't see any moving around. However, her watch for those deranged, rabid animals, as well as everything else in her mind was put on hold when she saw something else… up in the air, moving slowly around the mansion, and briefly illuminated by a flash of lightning.

" _STARS Alpha Team_." Vicker's voice said over the helicopter's loudspeaker, partially drowned out by the thunder that followed. " _STARS Bravo Team, give me a sign that you are still out there. STARS, Alpha or Bravo, it doesn't matter; signal me by radio or some other means_."

Well, as nice as it was to know that their pilot was still flying around out there… after abandoning them in the first place, but since they had left their communications equipment on the helicopter, how on Earth were they supposed to signal him? Redfield's first idea was to run out into the courtyard, jumping up and down, while yelling and waving his arms, as if there was any chance of being heard over the storm, the distance between them, and the helicopter's own rotors. To be fair, Vickers was using the helicopter's searchlight, and the illumination of the courtyard was more than adequate… if their pilot hadn't been facing the wrong way.

Maybe she could use the fuel in the shed to light a signal, Valentine thought, walking back over to get the cans… however, she didn't have a lighter or any matches, and honestly the young woman doubted that she would be able to get a fire going in the rain… unless she _really_ wanted to burn the mansion down. Probably not a good idea while they still needed it for shelter against those dogs in the forest, so she started looking for anything else that could be used… but by then the helicopter had moved too far away for it to matter.

"Chris!" She yelled over the rain while he stopped jumping to catch his breath. "Chris, get back inside, you're gonna catch pneumonia or something!"

"No… wait, Jill!" The young man yelled back, putting his hand above his eyes as if trying to see something. "Jill, there's something else out here… I think it's another building, come look!"

The young woman grumbled, not really wanting to add _getting soaked by the rain_ to the list of things she had gone through tonight, but if there really _was_ another building out there, then it couldn't be ignored. After all, even if Burton was still wandering somewhere around the mansion, Wesker and Marini could have been anywhere… including another building on the mansion's grounds. So she stepped out into the rain, instantly getting washed out by the heavy, warm falling water, but after the two of them had taken shelter in the nearby gazebo, Valentine was able to see what Redfield was talking about.

Sitting at the far end of the courtyard, past a series of fountains and more hedges, was a door that had a distinctly yellow light mounted on the side, which clashed with the white of the lights on the wall. This door was attached to another house, albeit far smaller than the mansion they had just explored, and only containing a single floor… hey, maybe it would be easier to search as well. So far there was still nothing coming to attack them, but the young woman didn't want to push her luck.

"Come on, Chris, let's go." She urged, walking toward the edge of the gazebo. "We shouldn't stay out here too long."

"Yeah, I know." The young man replied, watching the helicopter fly out of sight. "I'm just worried we might miss our chance to signal Brad when he flies back over, and… did we do the right thing, leaving Rebecca and Richard alone like that?"

Did Valentine feel _good_ about these things he was talking about? No, but given their circumstances, there hadn't really been much else that the two of them could have done. Aiken needed time to recover, and someone needed to stay with him, but the remaining members of STARS still needed to be found. It sucked, but then again, so did this whole mission, so what else could they have done?

Well, nothing was going to get accomplished by standing there under the gazebo like they were waiting for the rain to let up, which it wasn't going to do any time soon, based on how dark the clouds were, so the two of them ran for it, sprinting across the courtyard toward the smaller house at the far end.


	19. Chapter 19 Dormitory 001

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Nineteen: Dormitory 001**

Upon entering the door to the smaller building, the first thing that Redfield noticed was how much more simplistic the décor was, beginning with the single exposed bulb light fixtures that were mounted high up along the wall. Floor and ceiling were hardwood, not sealed or stained, and instead of the brilliant paint and wallpaper of the mansion, the walls were covered by cheap plywood paneling that was made up to simulate a more expensive finish.

Clearly this place was designed as some kind of servant's quarters or staff housing, leaving the more lavish conditions for… whoever owned the place, while everyone else lived inside the smaller house. Of course, the hallway that ran from the entrance was just as quiet and empty as the ones inside the mansion had been, putting the young man on edge, since in this place it always got quiet before danger struck.

"All right, no splitting up at all, this time." He said, completely changing up their plan. "We go together, checking every door and clearing every room as a team, okay?"

Valentine agreed with a nod of her head, and the two of them started down the creaking floor of the hallway, toward the nearest door, a simple wooden one on the right. Covering her with his pistol while she checked the knob, the young woman pulled the door open, allowing them to enter what looked like a storeroom of some kind. Well, maybe more like a janitor's closet, since the small area contained a floor basin, mop bucket, and several different types of cleaning solutions.

All in all, nothing useful, and the chemical smell was awful, so they headed back out into the hallway, thankful to breathe fresh air again while approaching another door on the other side. This one had a plate set in the center which read 001, and this time it was Redfield who opened the door while Valentine covered him. At first the young man thought it led into another hallway, but they he realized that it was just a small stretch, including a small door that likely went into a restroom, before opening up into a bedroom.

"Check out the bathroom." The young woman said, aiming her pistol toward the bedroom. "I'll keep watch this way."

The door was unlocked, so Redfield opened it just enough to peek in, and the rest of the way when he realized that the bathroom was empty. The bathtub and toilet were clean, but the water in the bowl was rusty, as if the place hadn't been used in a while, but aside from a healthy supply of extra toilet paper, there was absolutely nothing interesting enough to warrant a further search. The main bedroom, when they reached it, was a whole different story.

With the simple furnishings of a twin-size bed, writing desk, nightstand, and large wooden wardrobe, the most interesting part of the place was the large throw-rug in the center of the floor… with the dead body suspended over it. Lightning flashed, putting a kind of spotlight onto the dead man, who was hanging by a rope around his neck, suspended from the rafters, the overturned chair nearby, as well as the piece of paper sticking out of his waistband made it clear that this was a suicide.

 _May 22, 1998_

 _I doubt anyone will believe me, but I didn't have a choice; we ran from those monsters… the monsters that were once our friends, but Robert started to show the signs. I used my last bullet to put him out of his misery, and then locked myself in here, but now I can hear them scratching at the door… trying the locked knob._

 _There are no more bullets, but I have some rope, so I'm gonna just put an end to it all before those things find a way in, or I start to show signs myself. I deserve this, we all do for being a part of something so horrible. For anyone who finds this, I wrote down everything I know about the project; details, names, and crimes against humanity… it's all in the desk drawer right over there._

 _I just need courage now… I know I'm letting you down, Linda, but I can't, I won't become one of those things. I love you, but I have to end my life as a man, and not as a mindless abomination. I wish I had never come here… fuck Raccoon City, fuck this madhouse, but most of all… fuck Umbrella._

With every question that was answered in this place, even more were raised; it was now all but confirmed that the zombies wandering the mansion had once been normal, thinking and breathing people, but all that talk about being part of something horrible and crimes against humanity… had the people of this place been working on something that caused all of these horrific mutations… on purpose? And why fuck Umbrella? They had to be referring to the company that pretty much financed all of Raccoon City, right? But why? This was so frustrating, and he could speculate all night about it… or the young man could simply go and open the desk drawer.

It was locked with one of those cheap, built in latches that required an old fashioned key, but there was no sign of one, so Valentine worked her magic on it. In only a few seconds since kneeling down in front of the desk, the lock clicked open, and the young woman pulled open the drawer to reveal… nothing. The drawer was empty, in contradiction to the suicide note, and as aggravating as this was, there was one last thing that bothered him.

"Jill, when we read that note." He began, a little nervously. "Didn't it say that this guy locked himself in?"

"Yeah, a few times." The young woman replied. "It said he could hear… oh… it wasn't locked when we came in, was it?"

So what did that mean? There was no point in lying on a suicide note, and there was no one but the hanging man inside the room, so how had it gotten unlocked? That, and where was this wealth of information that the man claimed to have written down and placed inside the desk drawer? What, had it been a joke? Or had… or had someone come into the room before the two of them did… and removed it?

"But who could have done that?" Valentine asked after he spoke his concerns. "From the looks of this place, STARS are the only people, well… only _thinking_ people that have been here since like, _May_ , and… oh, shit… you don't think one of the others?"

She was right, it was an _awful_ thought, but what other possibility was there? Neither of them had the time or motive to do such a thing, while Aiken and Chambers hadn't made it that far, nor had any of their teammates who had lost their lives during the mission so far. The only three people unaccounted for were Wesker, Marini, and Burton, but Redfield absolutely hated even thinking about suspecting them, and… and besides, what would be the point?

None of them had any interests tied up in such a place, nor did they even know that it existed in the first place, so… so something else must've been going on, and it would all be cleared up just as soon as they found the others. Redfield was just about to suggest moving on, when Valentine suddenly screamed when a groan escaped from the hanging man's lips… and he grabbed the young woman by the shoulders. She rushed forward, bumping into the young man and nearly causing them both to fall to the floor, but between the two of them, they regained their balance, and…

 _Snap!_ Without warning the rope that hung this zombie from the ceiling could take no more, breaking so that the deranged cannibal fell almost directly on top of the two of them, and this time where was no stopping the three of them to fall to the floor. Redfield was knocked out of the way, but Valentine's attempt to crawl to safety was stopped when the zombie climbed on top of her, snarling and drooling on her cheek while she pressed her elbow into his neck to keep him from reaching her with his teeth.

This zombie was a lot bigger than she was, however, and slowly those chomping, yellowed teeth got closer, until some kind of barrier came down between them. No, not a barrier, but Redfield grabbing the blanket from the bed, and throwing it over the zombie like a burlap bag, before dragging it away from her. Twisting his body, the young man hip-slung the bound cannibal, throwing him to the floor, and then aiming his pistol.

 _Bang!_ A small hole appeared in the blanket where the zombie's head was, and then all movement stopped… while a discolored red stain started to form on the material. But how had this happened at all, the young man wondered while helping Valentine to her feet? The occupant of this room had literally _hung_ himself to avoid… whatever had caused what happened to the people there, so how had he still been able to attack them, if he had been hanging there for the past _two months_? Were these things, these monsters roaming the halls of both houses, were they… were they _really_ the undead?

Everything that was going on since leaving the RPD to look for Bravo Team was following most of the rules of his sister, Claire's monster movies. They used to be normal people, the only way to stop them from coming back to life was to shoot the brain or cut off the head, but there was one thing missing… the one element of movies like _Dawn of The Dead_ that made them truly frightening… the fact that whatever caused them to come back to life… could be spread to others.

"Jill, this is going to sound crazy." Redfield said, looking at the body covered by the bloody blanket. "Do you think that… do you think that whatever happened to these people… do you think it could happen to _us_ as well?"

This thought clearly disturbed the young woman, but he already knew the answer, after seeing what had become of Forest Speyer. But he had been more horrible than the other zombies, faster and stronger, with a bullet to the head not doing much but pissing him off. Sullivan hadn't come back since his head had been bitten off, but Frost… oh God, was it possible that Joseph Frost was still out there in the clearing, walking around again like Speyer?

"We need to find a way out of this place, Chris." Valentine replied, her voice breaking a little. "We need to find the others, and then get the hell out of here… there isn't really time for anything else."

She was right, and regardless of whether or not they could join the ranks of the undead, the situation hadn't changed at all. Burton, Wesker, and Marini were still missing, while Chambers and Aiken were depending on them to come back, at the main house. So with one last look at the body under the blanket, Redfield and Valentine turned away, heading back toward the door, and hopefully to the location of their missing comrades.


	20. Chapter 20 Payback

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Twenty: Payback**

With the discoloration inside his veins rapidly retreating until it vanished completely, Richard Aiken finally opened his eyes, causing Chambers to let out what felt like the longest sigh of relief in her life. Maybe ten minutes after Redfield and Valentine had gone off to see what was behind the door they had been talking about the second Bravo Team survivor of the night was sitting up… then being helped to his feet… and finally moving around on his own.

Still advising him to take it easy, the short haired girl brought Aiken up to speed on everything that had happened since the team had gotten separated, but honestly finding him was the best thing that could have happened, as far as Chambers was concerned… especially after that had happened to Dewey, Sullivan, and Speyer. However, instead of sticking to Redfield's plan and resting until he and Valentine returned, the wounded man was ready to get back into the mission… starting with finishing off the snake that had bitten him.

"Wait, _what_?!" She exclaimed, blocking his path when he started back toward the door. "Are you _crazy_ , Richard?! This thing nearly _killed_ you, and now you want to go back in there and mess with it _again_?!"

"Rebecca, you just don't understand what this thing is." Aiken replied, absent-mindedly rubbing the large stab wounds in his shoulder. "This snake, it's… it's the size of a _sewer pipe_ , and if it was to get out of this house, it would be more of a danger to Raccoon City than all of the zombies _and_ those dogs put together."

Chambers wasn't big and strong enough to physically stop him from going back through that door, if he really wanted to, so she kept trying to reason with him. Yes, a snake like that posed a larger threat, but her argument was that if they waited for the others to get back, then all four of them could take it on at once, and there was safety in numbers, right? No, not according to the wounded man, there wasn't, at least not when it came to this thing.

"I'm not putting anyone else in danger over this." Aiken explained, putting his hands on her shoulders. "I'm the one who faced it before, and I'm the one who got the serum, so I can't be poisoned by it again, right? Besides, I've got a weapon that can kill it, and I would have if it hadn't surprised me… I just have to go back in there to get it."

The short haired girl tried to argue again, but was cut off when he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, before moving quickly over toward the door he had originally come through. She wanted to yell for him to come back, but stopped, since she didn't want the snake to be aware that he was coming, and Chambers wasn't fast enough to get there before the wounded man pulled the door open. Beyond was a room with barely any light at all; only a single bulb in the corner letting her see that the whole room was dusty and unused, but then Aiken put his finger to his lips, clearly wanting her to be quiet while he pointed over to the other side of the room.

Nothing but darkness was visible in the direction that he was pointing, but what she could see was the weapon that he had been talking about… a powerful _Arwin 37_ grenade launcher, lying on the wooden plank floor about halfway across, just at the edge of the shadows. The short haired girl pulled on his arm when Aiken took the first step inside, shaking her head and mouthing the word _no_ several times, but there was just no stopping him… not from her pleas, nor from the long, drawn out _hiss_ that came from the shadows.

"Don't make a sound, Rebecca." He whispered, slowly pulling away to take a second step. "Just cover me."

Cover him, Chambers thought as he slowly made his way across the creaky planks toward the fallen weapon? How on Earth was she supposed to cover him if she couldn't even see where the threat was coming from? Well, she had a pretty good idea, since the hiss had come from over in the darkened corner of the room, but that was a lot of area to search through, so Chambers wouldn't even be _able_ to cover him until the snake came into the light.

Another _hiss_ , longer, slower, and drawn out than before, came from the darkness when the wounded man reached the weapon; his eyes glued to the darkness in front of him as if he could see through… bending down and reaching until his fingers went around the grip of the weapon. Then a flash of movement, from both Aiken and a kind of shadow from within the darkness, him raising the weapon while something _big_ moved toward him, and then _fwoosh-boom!_

A soft hiss of air when the wounded man pulled the trigger, and then a flash of light and noise, the result of which made Chambers' heart jump up into her throat. Loaded with grenade shells, the weapon caused the whole room to be illuminated for only a moment as Aiken's target took the full force of the explosion, but as the whole room shook and the monster roared, the short haired girl couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was a snake, all right, but it was _big_ … bigger even than had been described, with thick, sturdy scales, and teeth that were the size of railroad spikes.

 _Fwoosh-boom! Fwoosh-boom!_ Two more grenade shells slamming into the snake's body, first knocking the monster's head backwards, and then making the whole thing fall over sideways, the monster roared again, glaring at Aiken with what was almost an expression of rage on its face… if snakes could even feel such things, and then it ran away. Quickly coiling up and then springing forward like a rattler, except sideways toward what looked like a large fireplace.

"No!" The wounded man yelled, firing again. "Get back here!"

The grenade shell missed this time, striking and severely damaging part of the wall as the monster slithered its way into the fireplace, vanishing into it completely a couple seconds later, and… and going where, Chambers wondered? Had it gone up the chimney? Running after it, Aiken let go of his grenade launcher with one hand so that he could take out his pistol, turning on the flashlight and revealing that the fireplace was not a fireplace at all… but some kind of a tunnel that had been dug into the next room for… some unfathomable reason.

"Richard, stop, that's enough!" The short haired girl exclaimed, grabbing his arm again as he started toward the tunnel. "That thing just took _three_ grenades, we need… we need to go back into the other room and wait for the others."

"No, Rebecca, I wounded it!" Aiken argued, pulling his arm away. "It ran away because it's hurt, and it knows we can kill it with this."

Ignoring all reason, and focusing completely on the snake in a way that reminded Chambers of _Captain Ahab_ in _Moby Dick_ , she desperately tried to think of a way to stop him from going after the monster, but nothing was coming to mind as he took enough grenade shells out of his pouch to reload the weapon completely. Once finished, the wounded man kept it aimed in front of himself as he crouched down to enter the tunnel, and as much as the short haired girl wanted to turn back, she couldn't just leave him to face the snake alone, either.

The tunnel was very short, just long enough to pass through the wall, and leading the two of them into another hallway that hadn't been explored yet… a hallway that went both left and right… but with no sign of the monster. Plenty of light coming from small chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, but almost no decoration in this place except for the thick carpeting, but aside from the rain that could be heard falling on the roof above them, there was no noise at all… as if the snake had just disappeared.

Lightning flashed in through the several small windows, followed by a rumble of thunder while the two of them kept looking back and forth down the hallway, but there was still nothing, with the suspense almost being worse to actually seeing where the monster had gone. Chambers wanted to go back, but the wounded man wasn't having it, eventually picking a direction, and motioning for her to watch out behind them while he started quietly moving down the left path.

With no choice but to stay with him, the short haired girl readied her pistol, trying to keep her frightened, rapid breathing from becoming too loud as she switched back and forth from looking ahead and behind them. This part of the hallway wasn't too long, though, ending at a single, small door that went straight ahead. Aiken wanted to turn back and search for the snake down at the other end of the hallway, but in keeping with Redfield's strategy, Chambers argued that they needed to check out every door, and not just because she wasn't in a hurry to see the snake again.

"What if we miss something important?" She suggested, both of them now watching the other end of the hall. "Like some clue to what happened here, or another key like the one Jill found? We'll find the snake again, Richard, but we still have a mission to complete, here."

He gave in after a little bit of aggravated protesting, and continued watching the hallway while the short haired girl opened the door. Revealing a small room that was built more like an… observation platform, maybe? The floor and walls were concrete, as if the place had once been another exterior patio like the one where they had found Speyer, but then enclosed for whatever reasons. There was a long bay window across from the door, but before looking out to see what was there, Chambers noticed something else on the side wall to the immediate right.

"It's another door that needs a passcode." She commented, walking over to look at it. "I saw one of these earlier, and… wait a second."

Getting down onto the floor so that she could see underneath, the short haired girl couldn't see much, except for that God-awful yellow wallpaper that was used at the top of the stairwell where she had first been found by Redfield. It was the same door that he had clumsily tried to work out the combination to… and now that Chambers knew that this was where Aiken's snake lived, she was actually glad that it had remained locked.

"Hey, Rebecca." The wounded man said, almost excitedly. "Hey, come look at this."

She got up, and walked over to the long bay window where he was standing, only to become excited herself at what was out there. Beyond the rain that was running down the glass, and across what looked like some kind of fenced-in courtyard, there was another place that was just as well-lit, but behind another section of wall. Chambers became excited by this because it provided for a way for them to escape as long as they could somehow contact the pilot who had abandoned Alpha Team, because with all of the features that this mansion had… a _heliport_ was included.


	21. Chapter 21 New Horrors

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Twenty One: New Horrors**

With every bit of information gathered about this place, Valentine felt less secure about herself, the mission, and their chances of survival in general. It was nice, though, to have Redfield with her again, especially after everything that had just occurred inside that dormitory room, not only because it made her feel safe to be working with a partner again, but because she felt it was less likely for him to run off, than with… whatever had happened to Burton.

The hallway that they were on continued on toward a rather elaborate red door that had carvings like the bar she and Burton had discovered inside the main house, and also curved to the right, where a small piece of the floorboards had been broken, but… that was really the only remarkable thing before the hallway continued on. Since the new strategy for this place was to check every door as they went along, the young woman stepped up to the elaborate door, turned the knob and pulled it open so that Redfield could shoot anything that was in there… but so far there was nothing.

Waiting for a few moments and listening carefully, there were some sounds coming from the room, such as… music and some kind of… electronic bell ringing? The two of them just looked at each other for a moment in confusion, before stepping in, making sure to watch the corners of this new area for threats, and the floor in case there were any zombies that were dormant like the one hanging from that rope.

Still so far there was nothing, making the young woman sigh with relief as she lowered her weapon, and soon Redfield did the same. By the looks of this place, it was some kind of recreation room, most likely for the staff, that included a bar like the other room as well, but nowhere near of the same quality as inside the main house. Off to the far side of the room there was a pool table, where a game had once been in session, judging by how the balls and cues had just been left lying there, and then she discovered where the music and bells were coming from.

Off to the left, partially hidden around the corner, there was a small boom box that had been left on, and apparently the owner really liked _Madonna_ , because the album _Bedtime Stories_ had been left playing on loop. Aside from that, the electronic bell sounds were coming from a set of two pinball machines, set on each side of a large wall poster of a beautiful Asian woman in a silver two-piece bikini with _1998_ next to her in large print. The noise from the machines was stopped when she reached down and unplugged them, but all she could do about the poster was turn away from it and…

"Jill?" Redfield asked, looking at her with a concerned expression. "Jill, are you okay?"

She had been about to say something about the poster, but had stopped before talking, mid-breath, with her eyes becoming wide, and feeling as if a little bit of the color had drained out of her face at what she saw. The young woman wanted to warn him, or at least scream and point up at the massive, furry, eight-legged monster that was slowly crawling across the ceiling… especially when it reached the end, and started crawling down the wall behind her partner.

Valentine tried her best to speak, or honestly to make any noise at all, but she couldn't move or speak, except to make a kind of gasping, squeaking kind of noise until the young man finally figured out that he should turn around… only to let out a high-pitch scream of his own while jumping backwards from the giant spider that had climbed down the wall to just about eye-level with him.

Colliding with Valentine hard enough to make both of them fall to the ground, but unlike the zombies and dogs, the spider didn't immediately react to this movement, instead just continuing to take its time crawling down the wall as if there really wasn't a hurry. Of course, now that she was on the ground, scrambling to get out from under Redfield, the young woman saw why there was no hurry… because apparently they were not the first people to have wandered into this room.

There was a web, one that spread across the entire ceiling, and in it where were several cocoons… _people_ sized ones, and… a skeletal human face could be seen sticking out of one. _Bang! Bang!_ Brought out of her thoughts by the sound of gunfire, she saw Redfield shooting the monster with his pistol, causing it to twitch a little, but not doing much else… aside from making it turn to head right toward him.

The young man ran out of bullets and was struggling to reload, when the spider let out a kind of shrieking sound as it ran over to him and reared up onto its hind legs, with several inch long fangs ready to add him to the monster's collection. _Boom!_ What the spider hadn't been counting on, however, was Valentine readying her shotgun and firing just as the monster reared up, and putting a shell full of buckshot into its soft underbelly.

With another shriek, the spider was knocked onto its back, yellowish blood leaking out of its exoskeleton while trying to get up, but a second shot from her big weapon destroyed most of the monster's head, causing its leg's to slowly become still. The two of them didn't wait to make sure it was dead this time, however, instead scrambling to their feet, and running back out the door into the hallway… leaning with their backs against it to hold it closed, while catching their breath.

"What… in… the… _fuck_?" Redfield asked, panting heavily. "That was… but how did… Jill, you saw it, too, right?"

"I know _you_ … definitely did." She replied, also panting. "I didn't know… I didn't know men could… scream that high."

Now the two of them just looked at each other before starting to snicker, then giggling, and finally both of them laughing so hard that they could no longer stand, sinking to the floor as this hysterical laughter continued. Valentine was laughing so hard that tears were starting to flow, but gradually the laughter became crying… pulling her knees up into her chest and burying her face while sobbing, and then leaning heavily into Redfield when he scooted over to put his arm around her.

"What the _fuck_ is happening here, Chris?!" She cried. "Our friends, and… zombies, and… these monsters… I don't wanna die here, Chris! I don't wanna end up like Kenneth and Forest!"

"We're gonna get through this, Jill, I promise." He replied, sounding like he was trying to convince himself as well. "We're gonna find Barry, Wesker, and Enrico, then we're gonna go back and get Rebecca and Richard, and then as soon as we can find a way to signal Brad, we're gonna be back in Raccoon City before you know it."

This really wasn't much of a pep talk, but it was enough to remind the young woman that her teammates were counting on her, and that this was no time to go to pieces. A few more deep breaths and Valentine was starting to get a hold of herself, at least enough for the two of them to be able to get up off the floor, and with a good wipe of her eyes on the back of her sleeve, it was like the whole incident never happened. Well, it wasn't like Redfield was going to tell anyone that she started crying like a little girl… not unless he wanted the others to find out about that scream of his.

Most people who read about STARS in the papers, or saw them during the course of their duty day, assumed that the group was made up of superheroes or something. The truth was that they were human, all of them… Burton had a wife and two little daughters that he doted on like a mother hen, Redfield was so overprotective of his little sister that it was actually a bit scary sometimes, and Marini… when the Bravo Team Captain found Aiken and Chambers in the broom closet one day, he had pulled him aside and told Aiken word for word that if he did _anything_ to hurt a teammate that… that _he was going to slam his dick in a desk drawer_.

"Let's get going." Valentine said, her voice still breaking just a bit. "The others need us."

Making a note to not enter that door again, the two of them now headed down the hallway junction. For as far as they could see, there was nothing up ahead, at least not until the hallway turned again, so the two of them were just stepping around that small broken spot in the floor, when suddenly there was a flash of movement from down below. Without warning, a long, green tendril shot out from the hole, wrapping itself several times around Redfield's neck, and then yanking him back down before either of them could react.

The tendril pulled the top of his body down into the hole, but the young man managed to stop himself by grabbing onto the edge of the floor, while Valentine grabbed onto his legs in order to pull her partner back up… but it was no use. Whatever that tendril was, it was too strong for the young woman to keep a grip on him, and once that piece of the floor broke, Redfield was pulled the rest of the way down into the hole, vanishing down into the darkness.

"Chris!" She yelled, getting down and looking into the hole. "Chris, are you all right?!"

He didn't respond verbally at first, but a moment later the young woman heard a couple gunshots, followed by a slicing sound. The slicing sound repeated a few times until something inhuman cried out in agony, and then there was a soft whump, followed by what Valentine thought was labored breathing. Calling his name a couple more times, the young woman was getting ready to jump down the hole to go after him…

"Jill, I'm okay!" Redfield's voice called back. "Don't try to come down here, it's too high; you'll break your legs without something holding you."

Apparently once he had severed the tendril around his neck, the source of it decided to retreat, leaving the young man inside of a _concrete basement_ , based on his description, but so far he didn't seem to be in any immediate danger. There was also no visible way back up there from where he was, so the only choice was to split up _again_ until one of them managed to find a way around. All that was left to be said was a mutual be careful, before Redfield's echoing footsteps could be heard moving away, leaving Valentine alone once again.

Getting back up to a kneeling position, the young woman took a moment to reload her weapons, cocking the shotgun, and then getting up to continue the exploration of this place on her own.


	22. Chapter 22 The Aqua Ring

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Twenty Two: The Aqua Ring**

Groaning with disgust as he unwrapped what remained of the green appendage from his neck, Redfield took a moment to look at what had attacked him. The way it had squeezed and cut into him, leaving a series of tiny cuts in his skin where it had been, the young man had at first thought that he had been grabbed by some kind of squid or octopus, especially when it had pulled him down through that hole in the floor, but this… this looked more like some kind of… plant.

The rest of it had retreated back into a nearby vent that was high up in the concrete walls of this basement or wherever he was, leaving only the very end of the green, leafy vine where he had cut through it with his knife after the pistol fell from his hands. It was strong, too, having easily been able to overpower Redfield and pull him down into this place, and also hold him up in the air without the slightest sign of effort on its part… thing was cut open easily enough, though… and a kind of discolored green sap was dripping out onto the concrete floor.

Looking back up toward the small hole in the ceiling, which was pretty damn high from this angle, the young man could hear Valentine's footsteps as she moved away to begin her search for a way back around to him. Well, maybe he could meet her halfway, the young man thought as he got to his feet, picking up the fallen pistol. His partner would have headed east down the hallway where they left off, so all he had to do was… no, _of course_ it wasn't going to be that easy.

On the first floor, the hallway Valentine was on went east and west… this one, however, traveled north and south for what looked like an equal distance, before both paths turned east at the corners where they ended. Plenty of light, though, almost too much as the caged fluorescent bulbs across the ceiling reflected off the glossy stained gray floor and walls. From where Redfield was standing, there was nothing to distinguish the different paths, so as he had done the first time he and Valentine became separated, the young man took the quarter out of his pocket, and gave it a toss.

 _Tails_ , he saw after lifting his hand, meaning that he was to take the north path, after putting the coin back into his pocket. So the young man took a deep breath, got his pistol ready for whatever was down there, and started down the silent hallway. For the stretch until the corner, there was absolutely nothing in front of him, and after taking a moment to listen with his back pressed against the wall at the edge, Redfield rounded the corner, and saw… a large wooden crate?

It was just kind of sitting there against the wall, with one of the boards on the side being broken, and nothing inside when he shined the pistol's small flashlight into the interior. Other than that there was a shipping manifest on top that was completely smudged and unreadable as if it had been soaked in water, and the crate's last feature was a large stamp on each side that was made up of the letters _UMB_.

"Umbrella?" He asked himself, having seen that logo on several things back in Raccoon City. "What's an Umbrella shipping crate doing all the way down…

Then he remembered the words of the hanging man's suicide note, specifically the part about being involved in something horrible, and the part about _fuck Umbrella_. So was the company _really_ involved in all of this somehow? This was hard to believe, since the giant pharmaceutical corporation funded almost everything in the city, including the RPD and all of the humanitarian causes and outreach programs.

Involvement of the Umbrella Corporation also meant that the problems they had encountered so far might not be confined to the mansion area… but they already knew that since the Cannibal Murders had been going on for several months… even before that first _itchy tasty_ diary talked about the start of everything going wrong. Well, more and more questions were being answered with every room that was searched, so maybe there was some more evidence up ahead.

Past the old crate and down this new stretch of hallway that headed east, there was a… really strange feature… a hole, perfectly square in dimension that took up an entire part of the hallway about six feet across… and filled with dark, cloudy water. It was just sitting there, serving no visible purpose at all, except to block the way forward, and although six feet wasn't that far, the young man didn't really want to risk jumping over it, for fear of breaking his ankle or something like that.

The crate! Turning back and looking at the wooden object, it seemed pretty sturdy, while hopefully not too heavy to push, and Redfield was _half_ right about those assumptions. The crate moved easily enough, sliding across the concrete floor after he got behind it and pushed, using his leg for most of the work, until it tumbled over into the dark water with a soft _splash_. The part he was wrong about, however, was its sturdiness; the young man's foot breaking through when he used the top as a stepping stone, soaking most of his leg, and making him barely able to free himself and scramble onto the other side of the hole before the crate sank.

"Jesus _fucking_ Christ!" Redfield yelled, pulling off his boot to dump the water out. "Why would anyone think putting a hole there was a good idea?! _Why_?! It makes no God damn sense!"

Still grumbling after putting his boot on and getting up, the young man continued his way down the hall, leaving fainter wet footprints until there was nothing left on the sole of his wet boot… just in time for him to see that dumping out the water had been pointless. Up ahead, the hallway went into a slight downward slope until it met a set of double doors… where there was more than two feet of standing water just… sitting there.

This was the only way forward, so he had no choice but to continue, and just like where the crate had sunk, the water was dark, cloudy, and _really_ cold as he walked into it. Standing at six feet, the water came up to just below his waist, and right now the biggest thing Redfield was worried about was that there could be a lot more water waiting to crash down on him once the door was opened. Nothing of the sort happened when he opened the latch, and pulled one of the doors open just enough to see through into the next room, but the sight still amazed him.

Beyond the door was a vast, rounded chamber, concrete like the rest of the basement, but flooded with water so that only the guardrails of a walkway were visible sticking out of the water. The walkway circled a glass containment tank in the middle, probably where the water had come from, since there was an enormous hole where part of the glass had been shattered by… something… not that anything could be seen through the dark water. What could be seen, though, were two doors… one fairly close to him on this level, and the other on the other side of the chamber, up a short staircase.

Probably a better idea to check out the closer door first, since it was, well, _closer_ , and Redfield didn't like the feeling that he got as he looked at the large hole in the glass. _Slosh-slosh_ , the water churned and bubbled as he moved away from the double doors, holding onto the guardrail since the walkway itself was metal instead of concrete, and the water was making it slippery. So far nothing else was moving in the water, though, and when the young man reached the nearest door, he was relieved to find that it was unlocked.

Just like the rest of this place, the room inside was flooded, but he could still see that it was some kind of meeting room; several waterlogged chairs positioned around a long table where the top was still sticking out of the water, along with a blank whiteboard at the far end… but what in the hell was _that_? There was something else inside the room as well, a large growth of what looked like… _plant roots_ , which came down from the ceiling and branched out, spider-veining across the walls and ceiling of this room, and hanging down into the water.

So was it the root of a large plant that was getting nutrients from the water? Maybe the same plant that had attacked him with its vines upstairs? Some unfortunate people, zombies by the looks of them, had become entangled inside the roots, motionless and skeletal as if the roots had drained them completely… and then Redfield remembered the cuts that the vine had left around his neck. Was this a _carnivorous_ plant? Some kind of giant monster like that spider, and feeding off people to survive?

Not wanting to end up like the zombies that had been snared, the young man decided to back off for now, maybe returning later when he had a way to do something about it, since he doubted that his pistol would have been very effective. Oh well, at least now he knew where the plant's roots _were_ , even if he couldn't _do_ anything about them… too bad there wasn't a way to drain the water out of the room and cut off its water supply… at least none that he had seen so far.

Maybe there would be something more useful through that other door that he had seen from the entrance, so Redfield headed out of the meeting room, stepping back out onto the submerged walkway, and sloshing his way through the cloudy water. Moving through water was far more difficult than simply walking down a path, especially when the water was this cold, and the surface was so slippery, but he was making progress.

"Okay, back to the start." The young man commented to himself, grabbing onto the double doors to steady himself. "Of course, the other door has to be _all the way_ over there… _of course_ it does, why wouldn't it?"

 _Slosh-slosh_ , the water seemed to be a little bit harder to move through now as he started making his way around the longer part of the chamber, pulling on the guardrails so that he could move a little bit faster without slipping… but then something moved. Redfield didn't really _see_ the movement, more like feeling the currents of the water change from something big, like, bigger than himself, having an influence on them from… below.

Then it happened… from across the chamber near the broken glass, as if it had gone all the way there and circled back, something rose up from the water… a long, gray fin… a _shark_ fin, by the looks of it… a _big_ one… breaking the surface of the water, and now heading right toward him.


	23. Chapter 23 The Price of Revenge

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Twenty Three: The Price of Revenge**

As much as Chambers tried to convince the wounded man that they should go back to the sitting room and wait for the others to return, Aiken was having none of it, instead heading immediately toward the other end of the hallway after leaving the observation room. She looked longingly at the tunnel that they had passed through to get to this section of the mansion, and wanted to pass back through into one of the places that had already been cleared out, but she also couldn't leave him alone, so there was really no choice but to follow.

Leaving the tunnel behind, and rounding a corner, the first thing the short haired girl saw was an old fashioned elevator cage with a flimsy kind of gate that needed to be manually pulled shut before it would move, and the covered light at the top was on, meaning that they could probably use it to go to a different part of the house. The wounded man had no interest in it, though, taking a quick look as they passed by, and then returning his attention to the path ahead.

Another flash of lightning illuminated the way forward; white spotlights in the shape of the windows appearing and vanishing moments before the rumbling of thunder that followed, briefly canceling out even the noise of their footsteps. After seeing the monstrous form of the giant snake, Chambers was relieved for every second that passed in which she didn't have to see it again, but at the same time something like that just couldn't vanish into thin air… meaning that it was still somewhere around.

"Looks like it went in _there_." Aiken whispered when a set of double doors came into view. "Ready to end this, Rebecca?"

The hallway ended at the double doors, so unless the monster had used the elevator, which was unlikely, this was really the only way it could have gone… not that the short haired girl was eager to find it. Her wounded partner, however, was very eager, so much in fact, that he didn't even bother to listen at the door before grabbing the knob and pulling it open. If loudness hadn't been something that could have attracted the snake, she would have asked him what in the _hell_ he thought he was doing by just charging through the door into the large chamber beyond, and… oh shit, it was _right_ there.

With the multiple two-sided bookshelves forming several rows, this big open chamber was clearly being used as a library, but not too frequently based on how much dust was on the tile floor and nearby shelves. Like the main hall of the mansion, a single, very large chandelier hung from the raised ceiling, casting pale yellow light onto every corner of the room… including the corner where two of the bookshelves met… where the giant snake was all coiled up on the floor like a rattler that was ready to strike.

Not showing an ounce of hesitation, the wounded man raised up his grenade launcher and pulled the trigger, sending one of the shells hissing through the air before there was a small explosion upon hitting the very center of its target… and blowing the snake's whole body into a million burning pieces that scattered about the area. The short haired girl wondered how it was possible to have beaten the monster so easily after she had seen it take several such hits without even blinking, but Aiken was satisfied; letting out a loud yell of victory as he ran over to the remains… only to stop after picking up a piece to see it closer.

"Hey, what the hell _is_ this?" He asked, the thin remains crumbling when he rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger. "Is this a… _shed skin_? Hey, Rebecca, I think this is a shed…

Suddenly in a flash of movement that came from above without warning, Chambers had a millisecond to horrifically realize that the giant snake had set a trap for them… if that was even possible… but in this brief instant where everything seemed to slow down, including the monster as its mouth opened during the dive down toward Aiken… there was no time to warn him before that mouth closed again.

The wounded man's sudden scream of fright was turned into a choking gasp of agony when the snake's half a foot long fangs sunk into his mid-section, chewing several times as Aiken was lifted into the air as if he weighed nothing. _Bang! Bang!_ Chambers fired a couple shots with her pistol as soon as his scream jolted her from the shock, but the monster didn't seem to notice… but maybe she could save him with the grenade launcher.

Having fallen from his grasp and slid across the floor toward where she was standing, the short haired girl rushed over to where it had stopped, picking up the weapon and aiming it… just in time for the wounded man's body to crash to the floor after being completely ripped in half. Well, Aiken's _legs_ did anyway, flopping down in a slowly spreading pool of blood while the monster swallowed down everything from the stomach and upwards. Just like that, Richard Aiken was gone, leaving Chambers partially in shock because of what happened… but also leaving her in a _bad_ situation when the snake slowly turned its head toward her.

 _Fwoosh-boom!_ Not really meaning to pull the trigger at that exact moment, but doing so as soon as the monster started toward her, the shell missed completely, destroying one of the bookcases, but also distracting the snake long enough for her to make a run for the door. Ramming open the double doors with her shoulder, and then kicking them shut again, the short haired girl took off sprinting down the hallway, hoping to reach that tunnel before the snake got through, in order to get back to the safety of that sitting room.

"Oh, fuck!" She screamed when the library doors burst open behind her. " _Fuck_!"

The snake was moving a lot faster than she was, slithering after her down the hallway as if on a conveyer belt while she was trudging through quicksand, Chambers only got as far as the elevator cage before it was on her. With no choice but to run inside, she grabbed the metal grate and slammed it shut, and the safety locks clicked into place just as the monster bit down on the bars hard enough to bend them slightly. Next she hit the lever to start the car moving down, but the motor responded with a labored whirr when the snake's grip on the grating was strong enough to hold it in place.

Roaring in what sounded like anger as it pulled and bit down on the barrier between them, the snake was relentless, and the grating was slowly warping into submission an inch at a time. At this rate it would be less than a minute before it broke through, and she suffered the same fate as Aiken… or would she? At the same moment that a really dangerous idea popped into her head, the short haired girl raised the grenade launcher so that the barrel was sticking out through the metal grating, and shut her eyes tightly before pulling the trigger.

 _Fwoosh-boom_! The explosive shell went right into the monster's open mouth, destroying everything above its lower jaw in a flash of heat and noise. The good news was that without the top of its head, the giant snake collapsed lifelessly to the floor with a hard _whump_ , but the bad news was that the same explosion not only broke the grating off its hinges, but also had enough force to throw Chambers off her feet… making her slam into the back wall and crash to the floor while the car's brakes completely gave out.

Although dizzy and disoriented from the blast, the short haired girl was aware of falling at a fast pace; seeing the hallway vanish from sight, as well as a section of what she guessed was the first floor passing just as quickly, and then it all came to a stop. _Crash!_ The sudden stop of literally everything at once sent her tumbling out of the car and rolling across a cold, concrete surface, where she came to another sudden stop against a wall that was just as cold.

Ears ringing and vision blurred, she was dimly aware of holding onto the grenade launcher while making a couple failed attempts to get to her feet… but then noticing a few drops of blood falling past her eyes before staining the concrete. Her head was bleeding… not that a few wounds surprised her after what had just happened, and now Aiken was… oh God, she was just realizing, as she was on her hands and knees, bleeding on the concrete, that Richard Aiken, her boyfriend… was dead.

Tears now started to mix with the dripping blood as she made another attempt to get up, this one far more successful thanks to a lot of help from the concrete wall that she was leaning against. Slowly the ringing and blurred vision was reduced, not completely, but enough for Chambers to see that she had walked into some kind of kitchen after going around the corner… well, not so much _going_ , as stumbling sideways when there was no more wall, and falling against a huge food preparation table.

Apparently the cooks had been in the middle of putting together a large meal when everything went bad in the mansion, because the odor of rotting food that assaulted her nostrils a second later was almost enough to refocus her vision. Like everything else in this place, it smelled like death, and the short haired girl was trying to stand up to get away from it, when the ringing in her ears stopped just in time for her to hear a new sound… that of slow, hesitant footsteps… coming down… stairs?

She didn't see any stairs nearby, not that her eyes were perfect at the moment, but then the knob on the nearby door started to shake… not sounding locked, but more like the person on the other side didn't know how to open it. Everyone in STARS could open a door, meaning that it must have been a zombie, so the short haired girl struggled to raise up the grenade launcher, using the table to steady it just as the door finally opened.

 _Fwoosh-boom!_ Squinting her blurred eyes, Chambers had positively identified the shambling zombie just as it was starting to walk in… only to fly back out again as the explosive shell turned it _and_ the door a dozen burning pieces of its former self. Okay, she thought to herself, the threat was over… had to get back to a safe area… had to wait for the others… tell them about Aiken.

The door the zombie had come out of was the only one in sight, so she stumbled toward it, doing a kind of dog walk on her hands and knees in order to negotiate the heavily carpeted stairs that followed. This took a lot longer than it should have, but when the short haired girl finally made it to the top and pushed the next door open, she found herself in a place that was familiar. Yeah, she thought… this was where they had found Sullivan's body at the end of the hall… okay, side door leads to dining room… then to main hall… yeah… side door.

With her head throbbing as she struggled her way to her feet, Chambers couldn't remember which side of the hall the dining room was on, so she just kind of pushed her way through the first one she came through, but realized that she had made a mistake after seeing that the walls in the next area were blue… definitely _not_ the dining room. She tried to turn around, but only succeeded in stumbling farther down the blue hallway, eventually finding another door, and more or less falling through this one, onto the tile floor beyond.

Kicking the door shut so that nothing could follow her, the short haired girl gasped when she looked up and saw that a large creature was standing above her… no, wait, it was a statue… someone's stupid idea of putting a large tiger statue in the bathroom… of all the weird shit… in fact, everything inside this whole damn place was weird… weird… but well, with the way her head was feeling now… it looked like she was going to stay right there on the floor… with the tiger… for a while… so hard to keep… eyes… open…


	24. Chapter 24 Voices

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Twenty Four: Voices**

For the brief time that she had been reunited with Redfield and the others, Valentine had felt like nothing could hurt her, well… not really… but now that she was alone once again, walking down the silent hallway while the rain pounded against the windows, this feeling of invincibility was lost. What remained was fear… not just of getting killed, but of also somehow ending up like the hanging man in room 001.

Unlike the lavish and uniquely designed areas of the mansion, this place was a lot more uniform; only the most basic of furniture and decoration was implemented, with the wood panel floors and walls being universal, as well as the single bulb light fixtures which were spaced out just a little too far for her liking. This sparse lighting allowed for a lot of shadows, in which any of the different types of monsters that the young woman had seen, could have been hiding.

The odd part about it was, though, that nothing was hiding in the shadows… or at any other point along the hallway as it turned once more, before ending at a set of plain looking double doors. If Valentine hadn't known better, she would have thought that someone had already cleared out this part of the smaller house, but the very thought of that was ridiculous… at least it _was_ … until a sound reached her ears.

Aside from the double doors at the end of the hallway, there was a single door on the right side of that final stretch, identified using the same nearby metal plate as the first room that she and Redfield had explored together, with the only difference being that this one was labeled as 002. What had drawn her to this door, however, was the fact that the young woman had started hearing muffled voices from behind it… voices that became clearer as she approached to listen.

Putting her ear to the door, Valentine tried to cancel out all other sounds, including her own breathing, but although the voices were now more easily heard, it seemed that _Mother Nature_ was against her as well. Perfectly times crashes of thunder preceded by lightning, made it so that it was impossible for her to hear more than one or two words at a time, and now the rain was coming down even harder, muffling the words to a frustrating level, especially since whoever was talking seemed like they were trying to be quiet.

Then it all stopped; the rain lightening up a bit while more time came between each rumble of thunder, which was the good news, but the bad news was that the talking inside of the room seemed to have stopped as well. Letting out a frustrated _huff_ while straining to hear anything at all, the young woman was listening so hard that she nearly jumped out of her skin when the silence was broken by an almost deafening _boom!_

A gunshot?! No more waiting, she decided, stepping back and using her leg to kick the door open with a hard _thud_. Just like room 001, this place was set up like a bedroom, most likely for members of the mansion's staff, but at least there was no hanging man next to the bed. In fact, there wasn't a lot inside the room at all; some empty drawers in the nightstand, some shabbily folded clothes in the dresser, and a couple of overly large bookcases over toward the back wall.

So… then what had caused the gunshot? Looking around the room again, but finding nothing, Valentine realized that the only place left to check was the private bathroom, so she walked back down the short hallway toward it, only to gasp as the door flew open by itself. Prompted to ready her shotgun by the flash of movement that followed, the young woman was about to shoot… but then stopped when she realized that the familiar looking _zombie_ was pointing a large revolver at her.

"Barry?" She asked, slowly lowering her weapon. "I… I heard a _gunshot_ … what happened?"

"Thank God it's _you_ , Jill." The big man replied, letting out a sigh of his own while also lowering his weapon. "One of those _things_ came at me when I went to check out the bathroom, and… did you manage to find Chris?"

Burton seemed relieved when she reported that in addition to finding Redfield, she had also discovered Chambers and Aiken, but that didn't explain how the big man had somehow magically gone from being right next to her, to vanishing completely until this very moment. Valentine had been worried sick about him since they became separated back in the main house, and even though he was in a hurry to move on, the young woman insisted on some kind of an explanation.

"I guess… I guess I just got ahead of myself, Jill." He explained, only half-convincingly. "I was looking around in the different rooms, and by the time I realized that I had left you behind, I got… you know… lost. I tried to find you again, I did, but then I found the back door propped open, and I ended up here. I… I'm sorry, Jill, it was a stupid thing to do."

"Yeah… it _really_ was." She responded once he was done. "Barry, you've seen the kind of monsters in this place, right? Weren't you right there with me during the dog and zombie attacks?"

The big man raised an eyebrow to the fact that the young woman was calling the deranged people of this place _zombies_ now, but he also agreed with her that there shouldn't be any more splitting up. Once that was settled, the only mystery left was involving the talking that she had heard through the door, but being evasive once again, Burton kind of turned away, insisting that he had just been talking to _himself_.

She had known a lot of people who had full conversations with themselves over the years, especially during times of extreme stress, for which _this_ mission definitely qualified… except for one detail. During the thunder, rain, and quietness of the talking going on through the door, Valentine hadn't been sure, but there were parts of it where she thought there was another voice inside the room as well. Of course, that was stupid, since no one else had been inside the room when she searched it, so… all right, maybe he really _was_ talking to himself.

Could have been caused by fatigue, too, Valentine thought, since Burton wasn't as young as she and Redfield were… although he wasn't _that_ old at thirty eight. Whatever, there wasn't any evidence… well, any _real_ evidence that the big man had done anything wrong, and maybe this place was getting to her as well, making the young woman more glad to have him back, than anything else. Now all of them could regroup back at the main house once this place was explored… oh yeah, still had to explore the rest of the place that had _giant spiders_ on the ceiling.

"Have you seen Wesker?" She asked, trying to keep her mind off things like spiders. "Or Enrico?"

"No… you're the first person I've seen since we split up." Burton replied, a bit hesitantly. "Let's just get through this place, so we can link back up with the others."

Without another word, the big man walked toward the double doors at a fast pace, not running, but taking such large steps that the young woman had to almost jog to keep up. Where he had been so careful about exploration back inside the main house, now Burton was rushing; shoving open the doors as if something else was on his mind… but what on Earth could have been more important than staying safe inside this nightmare?

"Barry, wait, stop." She urged, getting in front of him and blocking the way. "What's wrong with you, you can't just go _charging_ from one room to the next in this place. Didn't you see the giant…

Her words trailed off, again finding herself distracted by another sound, but this time it wasn't voices, groans or barks… but a kind of… _buzzing_? What the hell was making that sound? Turning away from the big man, and looking at her new surroundings, Valentine saw that they were now inside a much larger chamber than the hallway, more brightly lit as well. Three doors visible, one pretty close off to the left, and two more on the far wall, one single and the other double... and what looked like another hallway starting from a corner near the doors.

"What is that?" Burton asked, also hearing it. "Someone leave a generator on, or something?"

The buzzing sound got louder as she stepped around the oddly placed… museum display table that dominated the center of the room, looking past the roped off collection of old telescopes and naval artifacts to see… something coming around the corner. It was decent sized, about as large as a cantaloupe, covered in a yellow and black striped pattern, and… uh… flying? Holy shit, it was a _bee_ … a _huge_ bee with a _really_ long stinger, but worst of all… it wasn't alone.

As if a lead scout identifying targets, the first of the giant bees led the charge, slowly flying right toward the two of them, while more than a dozen others followed suit. _Boom! Boom!_ The big man reacted first, raising his magnum revolver and firing a shot that cut the lead bee in half, as well as causing the one behind it to crash to the floor, and when Valentine followed suit with her shotgun, the bees, who had been so perfectly lined up, were all blown to pieces by the shell.

Both of them let out a sigh of relief, since the danger was over for now… but wait a second… if they had killed all of the giant bees, then why could the young woman hear even more _buzzing_ now? The answer, as more movement came from that same hallway, was that the two of them had only killed the _first wave_ of bees, and now more… _a lot_ more of them were flying out from around the corner in a swarm that would have bene impossible to fight off.

"Over there!" She exclaimed, pointing to the closest door. "Move!"

 _Boom!_ Firing another shell from her shotgun while Burton handled the door, more than a dozen bees were torn apart by the buckshot, but this didn't seem to do anything but piss the rest of them off. Thankfully, though, by that time Burton had opened the door nearest to them, so she followed him into it, not caring what was inside as she ran through the door, and then slamming it shut right in the faces of the angry, swarming giant bees.


	25. Chapter 25 Neptune's Fury

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Twenty Five: Neptune's Fury**

Redfield was left just standing there, nearly waist-deep in cloudy water, while the approaching fin, which was about as big as he was, got closer until there was a tremendous _splash_ as the rest of the monster broke the surface as well. Water went everywhere as what could only be described as the biggest Great White Shark in existence flung itself toward the walkway, opening its mouth to a size capable of nearly swallowing the young man whole, even if it hadn't had a set of discolored teeth that were more like serrated cleavers.

If he hadn't tried to move out of the way at the last second, resulting in his feet slipping on the submerged metal, Redfield would have surely died right there instead of falling just far enough out of the way so that the giant shark took a bite out of the walkway. The guardrail and most of the platform was now just… _gone_ as the monster slipped back beneath the water, vanishing as quickly as it had appeared, but the young man wasn't naive enough to believe that was the end of it.

"Keep moving, Chris." He said to himself in a terrified voice. "Don't look, just keep moving."

Grabbing onto the opposite guardrail and pulling himself through the water across the damaged walkway, Redfield knew that he needed to get to that other door in a hurry, especially because the stone stairs took it above the water lever. With his heart racing, and breath rapid, this whole thing felt like one of those dreams where a person is trying to run away from something, but can only move in slow motion, while their pursuer wasn't quite so impaired.

Again, the monster broke the surface, this time jumping completely out of the water in its attempt to catch the young man, only to land on top of another section of the walkway, and trapping itself… for about a second and a half before the metal broke underneath its weight, allowing the giant shark to silently vanish once again. If he had been asked whether it was worse to have the monster attacking or being out of sight was worse, Redfield honestly didn't know… but he was close to the stairs now.

It felt like the closer to safety he got, the slower his body was able to move, but eventually, after avoiding one last attack by the shark when it accidently struck the wall below, the young man pulled himself out of the water, scrambling his way up the stone stairs, and then just lying there on the platform in front of the door he had seen earlier, while catching his breath. First rabid dogs, then zombies, he thought… then attacking birds, giant spiders, a plant monster, and now sharks…

The constant pain that was shooting throughout every inch of his body was the only thing making Redfield believe that all of this wasn't just some crazy nightmare he was having from watching all of those God damn horror films with Claire… but at least he was out of the water, and therefore safe for the moment. Rolling over onto his side, and then grabbing the guardrail in order to pull himself to his feet, the young man saw that from there he was able to see much more clearly down into the water.

There were lights down below in the flooded sections, illuminating the distorted shadows of what was below, including the shark as it headed back down into the deepest part… possibly giving up? Once the massive beast reached the bottom, however, it quickly turned around, swimming back toward the surface so fast that water went everywhere as the monster's body broke the surface. This time jumping high enough out of the water to reach the top of the stairs, Redfield was able to see his reflection in the shark's large black eye before it bit a chunk out of the concrete platform, missing him by less than an inch, before splashing back down into the water.

No longer wanting to stay in this chamber, the young man scrambled back toward the door, slipping and falling on the wet concrete during this attempt, but then managing to crawl over to the door. Pulling it open, and allowing it to close again after he was through, and then just lying there in a fetal position for a time. This room was dry, meaning no sharks, but now that he was thoroughly soaked from the water, the young man didn't dare try to use his pistol again, at least until it dried out.

This left only his knife to defend himself with, which definitely was _not_ an ideal situation, but the good news was that there didn't seem to be any threats inside of the room for now. In fact, once Redfield unballed himself and looked around, there wasn't really much at all inside of this room, except a nearby hole in the floor. Yeah, except for a single hanging lightbulb, and a hole with a metal ladder bolted to one of the walls, this place didn't seem to be anything more than an entrance to something else below.

Thankfully there wasn't any water down there when he crawled over to take a look, and the young man was definitely not going back out onto the submerged walkway, so he carefully got onto the ladder, and climbed down into what could have only been some kind of control room. The caged light fixtures on the wall were dimmer than the ones in the outer chamber, but there were more of them, so it was pretty easy to see all of the control panels that were monitoring the water… as well as the fact that he was now down inside of the tank with the busted glass.

A large observation window allowed him to see the shark swimming around on the opposite side of the tank, prompting the young man to duck down behind the nearest station so that it wouldn't see him. Aside from the main room, there was another staircase that went down even farther, but the door at the end couldn't be opened for obvious reasons, once he saw that there was nothing but water beyond its small observation window.

"Well, this is just awesome." He grumbled to himself, leaning up against the wall. "What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

This whole situation was just _ridiculous_ , he thought while standing there… a giant shark swimming around inside a flooded chamber, like another sequel to _Jaws_ that no one wanted, and now there was no way for him to fight the thing or get out… aw, man, he thought… if only there was some way to get rid of the water, then that shark would… hey, what if there _was_ some way to get rid of the water?

Running back up the stairs into the control room, but then ducking back down when he saw the shark swim past the observation window, the young man started searching around each of the consoles until finally discovering what was needed, since it was only logical that a place with a giant water tank would need an emergency drainage system, right? Hell, there was even a clipboard hanging on the nearby wall with step by step instructions for how to drain the tank _in case of emergency_ , so he followed them.

"Okay, step one." He read to himself, moving to another part of the room. "Unlock drainage system controls from the main panel… okay… step two: Release drainage lever with safety switch on observation console."

Simple enough, Redfield thought as he moved back over to the observation window, quickly locating the clearly labeled safety switch. Turning it opened a plastic cover that was protecting a valve, so he turned it… well, _tried_ to turn it… needing to use both hands and brace his foot against the console in order to get enough leverage to turn it. Eventually it gave way, locking into a downward position, and then causing an alarm to sound while some spinning yellow lights activated inside the control room… getting the attention of the shark.

The good news was that the water had already started to drain, but not quickly enough to stop the shark from swimming toward the observation window as fast as it could. Unable to do anything but watch as the monster's body quickly filled the entire viewing area until nothing else could be seen, Redfield was then knocked off his feet when the shark's face completely shattered the impact glass, causing a torrent of water that swept him away.

With the wind knocked out of him after being slammed back into the far wall, the young man was left with no choice but to climb back up the ladder as the control room was completely flooded, but just as the water was about to spill over from the hole and into the room's entrance, it stopped… now slowly retreating. Yes, the water in the tank was still draining down, eventually allowing him to climb back into the control room, and a couple minutes later everything that could be seen through the broken window was free of water.

Naturally, everything was still wet, just no longer submerged, and there was no sign of the shark anywhere. For a good two to three minutes after the water had finished draining, Redfield kept looking out the observation window as far as he could, and even going so far as to go back up to the previously submerged walkway in order to look down, but seeing nothing. He needed to be careful, since the only way forward was through the lowest door inside the control room, but since there was still no sign of the shark, it was time to move on.

Climbing back down the wet ladder, into the water-logged control room, and then down the stairs to the previously impassable door, the young man carefully pushed it open, only to sigh with relief when he found that even the lowest levers of the tank were now drained. There were some more boxes like the Umbrella crate he had seen earlier, but they were long-ruined by the water… as was everything else that was down there… including the bloated and soaking wet bodies of several zombies, all missing limbs from what looked like shark bites, and thankfully not moving like…

 _Bang! Bang!_ The sound of gunshots making him jump, Redfield reflexively took out his own pistol, even though it probably wasn't a good idea to use it yet, and followed the noise around the corner to where… well, now at least he knew where the shark went. Apparently the monster had taken refuge inside of the lowest part of the tank, where a couple feet of water still remained in a small depression alongside some ruined equipment… and someone was standing nearby, firing bullet after bullet into the giant shark's head until it stopped moving… someone who was wearing sunglasses.

"Wesker?" The young man asked, almost in disbelief.


	26. Chapter 26 Pest Control

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Twenty Six: Pest Control**

Well, this was just… awesome, Valentine thought as the door shook a little from the giant bees swarming around outside. From what she had seen before locking herself and Burton inside this room, there had been dozens, if not hundreds of them flying out from around that hallway corner outside… far too many for the two of them to fight off with their current weapons. Thankfully, at least the little monsters couldn't seem to get in, but what were they going to do now?

"We can't just _sit_ here, Jill." The big man said, looking around at their new surroundings. "Come on, let's see if there's another way out, or something."

The young woman agreed that they couldn't just wait for the problem to go away, so she turned around, and discovered that they had taken shelter inside of a very large… _janitor's closet_ , by the look of things. There was a floor-sink, mops, brooms, several scrubbing rags, and just about every kind of cleaning chemical that one could imagine, seeming like a lot for such a cheaply made building, but maybe this was the main closet for the guy who cleaned the main house.

No other doors, though, nor even a window, leaving the two of them trapped unless a solution was found. The first thing Valentine thought of was turning one of the spray cans into a kind of makeshift flamethrower, but the output on those was actually pretty small, and there were so many bees that it wasn't worth the risk. She then thought of connecting one of the hoses on the wall to the sink, and spraying it under the door… which would have done nothing but make the floor all wet… and of course, the only chemical missing from this closet was bug spray.

"Hey, maybe we can throw some of this _bleach_ on them." Burton suggested. "Then they'll fly away when it burns them… or was it the _ammonia_ that burns? I guess we'd only have one chance to try it, so… never mind."

But the young woman didn't _never mind_ … instead, she had a thought… one that was kind of crazy, but involved bits and pieces of each idea that had been presented. Okay the materials for this to work were… rags, hose, some kind of funnel… and then _both_ of the cleaning chemicals that Burton had mentioned trying to throw on the bees. Opening the door and simply throwing a chemical at a swarm that size was not a good idea… but who said that the door had to be _opened_ at all?

Wandering around the perimeter of the closet, it seemed that luck was with her for once, as this janitor's closet was equipped with every single thing that was needed for them to try her plan. So the young woman stuffed a bunch of rags underneath the door while the end of the hose was put all the way through, and then had the big man hold up the other end of the hose while she shoved the funnel into place.

"All right, here's what we're going to do." Valentine explained, grabbing several jugs of chemicals from the shelves and bringing them over. "Now, when I say go, we're going to pour as much bleach and ammonia into the funnel as we can _at the same time_ … a little trick I learned from your _friend_ over in Homicide Division."

"I thought you hated him." Burton replied, chuckling a bit. "But all right, here goes nothing."

As soon as the young woman said _go_ , they poured a gallon of each chemical into the funnel so that the bleach and ammonia would be completely mixed by the time it reached the other end of the hose… where the combination would create vapors of highly toxic gas in the room outside, while the rags stopped it from coming back in. Gallon after gallon of each one they poured in, while the giant bees outside became excited, and a muffled _hiss_ slowly dominated as _thump_ … _thump_ … _thump_ , the bees were heard falling.

Soon there was no buzzing heard at all, but they two of them didn't stop just yet, wanting to make sure that enough gas was produced to get any bees that were still around the corner. So they used up every drop of the ammonia and bleach, and then waited for a few minutes… now hearing only silence from the room outside. Of course, now the two of them couldn't just walk into a room full of toxic gas, so Valentine took the funnel out of the hose, and connected it to the sink.

"The sink has more pressure than us pouring out bottles." She explained, turning the faucet onto full. "This way we can wash away the chemicals on the floor, and in a few minutes the gas will be gone… _heh_ … I owe your _friend_ a beer… if he ever wakes up."

Burton let out a deep sigh of depression as this topic was brought up, both of them now understanding why the very first investigations into the Cannibal Murders had gone so bad, but they had to think of themselves now. Three, four, five minutes had passed before she turned the faucet off, and the big man kicked the rags out from under the door… his hand on the knob… pulling it open to reveal…

"Oh, my God." The young woman managed to say, looking at the dead bees. "There's… there's so many."

There was no gas left in the air, having all faded after the chemicals were washed away, but what was left were the lifeless corpses of so many giant bees that they literally covered the entire floor of the room… all the way down to the end of the short hallway around the corner, where… where Valentine could only stare in awe at the gigantic hive that covered the very end from floor to ceiling. There was something else, too… a dead man, bloated and swollen from bee stings… lying on the floor nearby with a large _bug-sprayer_ in his hands.

Well, that explained why there was no bug spray inside the closet, she thought while looking at the scene. And apparently it was a good thing there hadn't been, because obviously the stuff didn't work, and the two of them would have died if they opened the door to use it. All right, now that the giant bees had been dealt with… she couldn't believe that something like _giant bees_ was beginning to feel normal… there were still two doors left in this area to check out.

In this place, double doors usually led into a whole new section of the house, so it was decided that they would first investigate the smaller one, which had a metal plate next to it on the wall, reading: 003. There was probably at least one zombie inside, if this room was like the others, so this time they would have to go back to the strategy of careful exploration, beginning with listening at the door.

"I don't hear anything." Burton said after a few seconds. "It must be in the bathroom, like the last one."

That made sense, so the young woman slowly opened the door, only to discover that this room was _not_ like the other two. Sure, it was a bedroom… or might have once _been_ a bedroom, but the furniture was destroyed, as was the bathroom door, with the source of all this damage being what looked like the large branches and vines of a plant. Each branch was the size of a tree trunk, pulverizing entire sections of the walls as they weaved in and out, leaving part of the room exposed to the outdoors, but with nothing beyond the pouring rain being able to get past the new barrier.

Spreading along the floor and ceiling with the same kind of damage, there was only a single clue to what had gone on in this place. On one of the still intact walls, next to three zombies that were tangled up in the vines and reduced to almost skeletons, someone had carved the phrase _PLANT 42_ into the wood… no, it hadn't been carved… it had been scratched… out of desperation, by the looks of it, since there was still a fingernail dug into the last number.

"Plant 42?" Burton asked, interrupted for a moment when Valentine stopped him from getting any closer. "What the hell is Plant 42?"

"I'm pretty sure that _this_ is." The young woman replied, pointing to… everything. "This is probably the same thing that attacked Chris earlier, so whatever you do, don't get _any_ closer to it."

The big man didn't argue, and instead the two of them slowly backed up out of the small hallway, past the destroyed bathroom door, and back into the central chamber. Burton even made sure to quietly shut the door, since they didn't want to attract the plant's attention after what it had done to Redfield. The good news, though, was that if this _Plant 42_ thing was in the bedroom, probably using the water and illumination from the light fixture for sustenance, then it couldn't _possibly_ be beyond the double doors.

Still, just to be safe, it was better to keep being cautious, so the two of them both listened at the door, and the sound that was heard was… strange. It was like a kind of slow, wet, churning sound like chemicals being moved through an examination vat, although it sounded like the churning was taking a lot of effort, like when tanks start to run dry. The two of them just looked at each other for a second, before Burton took out his magnum revolver to cover her as she opened the door.

An incredibly bright light was the first thing that Valentine saw upon pushing it open, revealed to be a set of powerful ultraviolet lights along the ceiling, only about a quarter of which were still functioning. Apparently this was enough, however, to sustain the giant form of… what the hell was she even looking at? It had a massive discolored bulb attached to the ceiling, where branches spread out like the ones in the other room, several vines hanging down from that, which were bigger around than a person, and a kind of taproot lower body that had broken its way through the floor.

Oh God, they had been wrong… Plant 42 hadn't been inside the 003 bedroom, it was right there, inside of this two story tall… greenhouse. That was the end of her examination, however, as one of the vines suddenly shot out and grabbed her like the smaller one had done to Redfield. Lifting her up into the air without any effort, and spinning her around while coiling around her body like an Anaconda, Valentine tried to scream as she felt a hundred sharp objects pierce her body, but the constriction only allowed her to gasp as the pain intensified.


	27. Chapter 27 Plant 42

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Twenty Seven: Plant 42**

"Wesker, we've been looking _everywhere_ for you." Redfield said, walking toward him. "I'm glad you're all right, but... what happened? How did you get all the way out here?"

"I'm glad you're still alive as well, Chris." The Captain replied, holstering his pistol. "After you and Jill went off, I wanted to see if those dogs were still prowling around, and well… let's just say that it's _far_ too dangerous to go back outside."

The young man nodded, remembering how they had been forced to run from the landing zone, all the way into the mansion, and if Wesker had been forced to run from one that got into the house, well… that was perfectly understandable. So, being a good soldier, Redfield filled him in on everything that had happened since they all separated; finding Chambers and Aiken still alive, but Sullivan and Speyer not being so fortunate.

"Yes… I'm come across a number of dangers in this place, myself." The Captain continued, taking off his sunglasses for a moment to clean the lenses on his shirt. "That's why I came down here, actually; Chris, I've discovered that this housing area is the home of a particularly dangerous monster called Plant 42."

As Wesker described the creature found in the notes he had discovered in one of the bedrooms, this plant was a gigantic, carnivorous abomination that used its vines to capture prey throughout the building. Actually, this sounded like the vine that had grabbed him upstairs by the break room, but Redfield was disheartened by the fact that in its current state there was no way to harm it.

"This plant takes in nutrients from three sources." The Captain continued. "Sunlight, the blood of living organisms, and water up through its roots. "Sunlight doesn't concern me right now, but I came down here to try and cut off its water supply… hopefully the recent draining of this area will do the trick, even though I'm not sure where the roots are."

"Roots?" Redfield asked, thinking for a second. "Wait a second, I've seen them! Come on, we have to get back to the upper level."

Not wanting to go all the way back through the control room, the young man spotted a ladder bolted to the nearby wall, starting to rust, with an old, waterlogged crate with the Umbrella logo on it. He nearly slipped off of it a couple times while going up to wherever it led, but hopefully it would bring them closer to the upper walkway than they had been before. However, when Redfield reached the top, he found that he was back in the same place where he had tried to use the crate as a stepping stone… having gone in a big circle.

Regardless, the roots of Wesker's _Plant 42_ were pretty close, so with the young man leading the way back through the double doors and onto the walkway… which looked really weird now that there was no water below it, the two of them entered the small conference room… where the previously stationary roots were now moving around as if they were straining to find where all the water had gone.

"Stay back, Chris." The Captain said, taking something off the back of his belt. "Even the _roots_ of this monster can eat you alive."

Redfield had no problem staying back, since he had already been grabbed by the thing once, and then he gasped when he realized what the object was that Wesker was holding in his hand. It was a grenade, but not just _any_ grenade… a powerful and brightly burning _White Phosphorus_ device that were supposed to only be used by the RPD in emergencies where crowd suppression was needed, or… to signal an aircraft.

"Wesker, wait!" The young man exclaimed, grabbing his arm before he could pull the pin. "Brad's still flying around up there, me and Jill heard him trying to signal us with his megaphone… we could use this to get his attention."

"I understand your concern, Chris." The Captain answered, pulling his arm back. "But right now this is the only thing I have that can do damage to a waterlogged plant root… so unless you have a better idea… or you're comfortable with letting this abomination survive?"

Redfield backed off, realizing that this needed to be done, and following Wesker's next orders to hold the door open so that they could run away quickly. Looking directly into White Phosphorus could blind a man, not to mention the smoke and burning shrapnel, so as soon as the Captain pulled the pin and tossed the grenade, the two of them ran outside. The plant roots, sensing movement, caught the weapon and wrapped around it, pulling the device up close at the same time that the door closed again… and the grenade went off.

There was only a small explosion, but the light coming from under the door was incredible, as was the _hiss_ of burning material as the roots were engulfed in white fire… and the whole building started to shake. Pieces of the ceiling and walls started to crumble, and in other places more branches and vines from the giant plant were starting to break out, as if trying to escape from the chemical that was burning up its roots.

Slowly the green branches and vines sticking out of the walls turned brown and were still, leaving the building silent again just as the light from the White Phosphorous went out. Waiting a couple more seconds just to make sure, Wesker opened the door to the conference room, revealing that everything in there had been scorched black. The walls, ceiling, floor… the table and chairs had been destroyed, but as for the root… the root of Plant 42 had become thin and burned, slowly crumbling as its lifeless appendages fell apart.

"I'd certainly say that the grenade was effective." Wesker commented, closing the door again. "Chris, I understand how extreme this situation is, but we can't forget our original mission. This area is relatively safe for now, so I'm going to stay here and collect as much information as possible… while you and Jill take a second look at the main house. Here, take this."

Reaching into his pocket, the Captain took out a large key that had a strange engraving on the handle. Off hand, the young man could only think of two doors in the mansion that he hadn't been able to get into… not counting the one that needed a passcode… and it didn't look like there was a way out in this building, so maybe there was something useful inside those other rooms… like a telephone… so strange that they hadn't seen one in this place.

"All right, if you think that's best." Redfield said, taking the key and putting it into his pocket. "I'll head back upstairs, and try to find Jill again."

Wesker gave a slight wave while walking across the damaged walkway toward the control room, and although he didn't like splitting up again, it was good to at least know that the Captain was alive. So he turned away, going back out the double doors, and… nearly falling back down into the lowest levels after trying to jump over where the ladder was. Finally pulling himself up onto the other side of the concrete hallway, the young man continued back the way he came, passing underneath the hole where the vine had grabbed him, and rounding another corner to see…

Redfield couldn't believe it… there was a ladder _right there_ , meaning that if he had simply gone the other way, he could have been back upstairs _without_ having to deal with the reject from _Jaws_. Grumbling to himself as he walked over to the ladder, and climbed up through the open hole above, the young man found himself back upstairs, but inside of a _really_ small room. No, wait… the room wasn't small, there were just a couple of large cabinets sitting between him and the rest of it.

The space between the cabinets and the wall was tiny, but with a bit of force while sucking in his stomach, Redfield was able to squeeze through into a bedroom that was almost identical to 001, except no one hanging from the ceiling. There was a zombie in the private bathroom, but lying on the floor with half its head missing, so he continued on, out into the hallway. Taking a quick look down to the left, and finding the hole where the vine grabbed him, the young man realized that Valentine would have kept on going the other direction.

"Jill?" He called, hoping to not attract too much attention. "Jill, are you still here?"

 _Boom!... Boom!_ Shotgun blasts, he realized, coming from back down the hallway. Taking out his pistol, which thankfully had gotten plenty of time to dry by now, Redfield ran down the hallway, past 002 where he had come out of the basement, and through another door into a large room with… what in the _hell_ was that on the floor? The wood was all wet, and the planks were littered with hundreds of gigantic… _bees_ … but after a couple more gunshots were heard, there was no more time to figure out what had happened.

Following the sound, the young man kicked open a set of double doors, but then froze in place for a moment upon seeing the gigantic plant creature that was holding Valentine in one of its appendages. The plant didn't look too good, though, its discolored green exterior slowly becoming a discolored brown, while its leaves began to wilt. Apparently draining the water and killing the roots had been the correct thing to do.

"Chris, help me out!" Burton yelled, surprising Redfield with his presence while tossing him the shotgun. "Shoot the vine!"

Snapped out of his paralysis, and aiming the shotgun just as the big man was taking out his magnum revolver, the combined power of both weapons when they started shooting, was enough to sever the vine. Of course, it probably would have broken off on its own, based on the continuing wilt of Plant 42; its body now turning an unhealthy black color as if rotting from the bottom up, and pulling down small pieces of the ceiling while the upper branches tried to hold on.

It took both of them to free Valentine from the appendage, having to hold it down and break off the pieces that were turning black the fastest, but soon the young woman was free. She looked a little pale, with small cuts all across her skin and clothes from when it had tried to drain her blood, but she was alive… which was more than could be said for the twisting, quivering form of Plant 42.

The abomination continued to blacken until it stopped moving all together, and then the last branches broke free of the ceiling, causing the whole thing to slowly fall over… with enough force to completely break through the floor. Its remains tumbled back down into the conference room, where its roots had been, but that was the end of the plant's journey as it continued to wither and break apart until there was almost nothing left.


	28. Chapter 28 Backtracking

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Twenty Eight: Backtracking**

Being released from the stabbing, crushing vine of the giant plant monster was both a relief, and extremely painful at the same time for Valentine; being able to breathe again was nice, but she cried out in agony with tears running down her cheeks while its dozens of stabbing knives were ripped out of her flesh. Redfield helped her over to the wall, where she was able to sit against it while the plant crumbled into nothing… good riddance.

"Looks like I got here just in time." The young man said as the rotting plant went silent. "Are you all right, Jill? Looks like Wesker was right about that root."

"Wesker… you saw Wesker?" Valentine replied, coughing as her hands still shook. "Where is he? Is he okay? Has he seen Enrico?"

He urged her to calm down, updating the young woman on everything that had happened down in the basement after their latest forced separation; the giant shark, draining the water, and destroying the root with Alpha Team's long lost Captain. Valentine was glad to hear that he was still alive, since she had been worried about Wesker after he had vanished from the main hall… but she was far less happy about his decision to stay in the basement to collect information.

Yes, they still had a mission to complete, and yes, as much information on this whole _freak show_ of a mansion as could be gathered was needed… especially for the inevitable mission report that would have to be filed when they got back to the RPD. However, at this point, staying alive was more important than anything else, but at the moment… the young woman didn't feel quite up to enforcing any of her ideals about the matter.

"Chris, I think… I think that thing really hurt me." She continued, groaning with pain the next time she tried to move. "Can you… can you get me back to Rebecca?"

"That's probably the best plan for now, Chris." Burton added, taking another look down the hole where the plant had fallen. "But she's right, we can't leave Wesker all alone, either, so I'll stay here with him."

There didn't seem to be a problem with this plan, since everything between where they were and the main house had been completely cleared out of zombies and other monsters. So the big man headed for the basement, after Redfield made a point to tell him where the entrance was hidden, leaving Valentine to rely heavily on the young man as he helped her to her feet. He made a crack about carrying her if he hadn't been so tired himself, and honestly, with the way she was feeling after being snared by the plant, the young woman just might have let him… but for now all he could manage was to hold her up while they started back toward the exit.

As they passed through the rooms and hallways between there and the door to the enclosed courtyard, Valentine started to feel a little bit better, perhaps only needing to move around a bit to counteract how drained the plant had left her, and even though the still pouring rain was colder and heavier than it should have been at that time of year when they went outside, it felt just so… nice. Even though the water quickly soaked both of them, it was kind of refreshing, as was the break they took over the central gazebo they had stopped at before, only…

" _STARS Alpha Team… STARS Bravo Team_." Vickers' voice called from the helicopter's loudspeaker, interrupting her thoughts as it flew overhead. " _If any of you can hear this, you've got to give me a signal of some kind_."

"What is that dumb-fuck doing?" Redfield asked, almost angrily as he looked up at the helicopter. "Doesn't he know that when you're searching for survivors on the ground, you're supposed to hover with the nose pointed _down_ at regular intervals so you can actually _see_ the people? Where did he get his license, a God damn _Cracker-Jack_ box?"

Letting out a pained laugh at that final comment, Valentine knew that he was right, regardless of her not knowing the first thing about being a pilot. The way Vickers was flying around up there was too fast, and with the nose pointed more upward as if he were more concerned with fighting the storm winds than looking for them… which, in a way was kind of understandable, considering that he _was_ flying through a storm.

"I wonder how much gas he has left." She asked as it vanished from sight. "I mean, since we've been stuck out here this whole time, he could have easily gone back to Raccoon City to refuel, and oh, I don't know… told Chief Irons about what happened to us, maybe."

She was sure that their pilot was doing the best he could under the circumstances… yeah, while probably pissing himself every time the lightning flashed… this also made her wonder how a man like Brad Vickers had ever gotten accepted into STARS in the first place… or any kind of police work in general, for that matter. Everyone else on the team had years of police experience, or a military background, or _something_ , but Vickers… there were rumors around the RPD that he was even scared to go to the _firing range_.

"Feeling any better, Jill?" Redfield asked. "You look like you're moving around a little easier."

"Yeah, I'm getting there." She replied, using one of the gazebo's posts to stand all the way up on her own. "I still want Rebecca to look me over, but… I'm getting there."

Standing up on her own was still a bit easier than _walking_ on her own, so she still needed to lean on the young man pretty heavily as they stepped back out into the rain, but by the time that they had made it to the doors of the tool shed before the main house, she was almost doing it on her own… almost. No, now that several minutes of trying to recover had gone by, the young woman was pretty sure that she would be leaning on him, at least a little, until they got back to where they had left Chambers and Aiken.

It was going to be so good to have both of them in action again, since in a place like this, safety in numbers was paramount, especially since it had been a while since either of them had found any more ammo for their weapons. She still had plenty of bullets for her pistol, but the pouch where Valentine kept her extra shotgun shells was getting pretty light… and she didn't see very many extra clips on her partner's belt, either.

Hopefully they would find a way to escape before all of their bullets ran out, either that or hopefully this place would run out of nightmares to throw at them. Worse come to worse, she and Redfield both had their knives, but those just didn't seem like enough for this mission… and in her current condition, the young woman wasn't exactly in a hurry to get into a physical battle with another zombie.

Taking a few minutes to dry off inside the musty tool shed before heading into the main house, mostly so that their wet boots didn't slip on the wooden floors at a critical moment, the young man pushed open the door that had needed that special object, allowing them to return to the mansion after working so hard to leave it. Valentine had really been hoping that there would have been some kind of hidden back door, or at least a telephone or a radio somewhere inside the smaller building… instead of the mutated plants and monsters in residence.

"All right, Jill, the hard part's over." Redfield said, laughing a little as they stopped in front of the door to the stairwell. "Now all you gotta do is walk up the stairs, and then go damn near to the other side of the house."

"Oh, is that all?" She replied, laughing with him as he turned the doorknob. "Think you can keep up with…

Her words then stopped when he pushed open the door, as did her breath when she saw what was standing there on the other side, as if it had been waiting for them. Valentine only saw it for a second; green and scaly like a reptile, stocky and muscular, and maybe as tall as a man if it hadn't been hunched over… then one of its powerful arms swung upward, letting her feel the wind from its horrible claws on her face as it tore off the beret she was wearing, along with cutting off a little bit of her hair.

 _Boom!_ Aiming the shotgun more on instinct than anything else as she stumbled backwards, the force of the weapon firing made the young woman lose her balance completely, falling on her rear while the clawed creature took the full force of the shell to its face. Knocked off its feet, and shrieking almost like a dentist's drill, the monster quickly recovered, jumping to its feet and running after them just as Redfield pulled the door shut.

"New plan, let's go that way!" He yelled, pulling her to her feet just as the stairwell door shook from a violent impact. "Come on!"

Doing her best to keep up with him, Valentine was still not at one hundred percent as they ran, only managing to reach the door to the hallway where that crusher booby trap had been, before the stairwell door was blasted into pieces from the clawed creature throwing itself through it like a battering ram. _Bang! Bang!_ Turning back and firing at the monster as it ran after them, only one of his bullets hit, striking it in the arm, but only seeming to piss it off.

This had given the young woman time to open the door, though, and again they slammed it in the pursuing monster's face just in time. It was already bashing the door by the time they had gone a couple steps, and Valentine knew that they would never outrun it like this… but then an idea came to mind when she saw the door that Burton had tried earlier… the metal one that led outside.

"Wait a second." She said pulling away from him. "Quick, hide over there."

Unlatching the metal, rusting door, and leaving it open just a crack, the young woman ran over to where she had sent Redfield, ducking behind a decorative display case, and keeping their weapons ready just in case this didn't work. An instant later the clawed creature smashed its way through the double doors, shrieking as it ran down the hallway, and… shouldering its way through the metal door… to where the large pack of mutated dogs were still waiting.

All of them were starting to run toward the monster just as Valentine came out of hiding and pulled the sturdy door closed, and now there was the muffled sound of barking and growling from outside… followed by the creature shrieking… then more yelping than barking… then more shrieking… and then no barking at all. _Bam!_ The two of them jumped back as the metal door was struck so hard that a small dent was left from outside, prompting them to run back down the hallway, toward the stairwell before the clawed creature forced its way back in.


	29. Chapter 29 Passcode Required

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Twenty Nine: Passcode Required**

Was there no end to the nightmarish surprises of this place? Redfield wondered as they ran back down the hallway and through the broken stairwell door. Behind them, the clawed creature continued to attack the metal barrier, shrieking with rage as the dent in the door got larger and larger, but it still hadn't broken through by the time they reached the top of the stairs, allowing he and Valentine to feel a little bit safer as they entered the dimly lit hallway that led to where they had left Chambers and Aiken.

Thankfully, nothing else jumped out of the shadows as they made their way back to the sitting room where the others had been left so that the wounded man could recover, but when the young man opened the door, he felt a little confused since the place was empty. The room was small, and there was no sign of either of them, but… Aiken wouldn't have been stupid enough to try going after that snake he mentioned alone, would he?

Valentine seemed to be reading his mind, both of them looking at the unexplored door on the far side of the room, and then the same look of concern crossing their faces when they realized that this was the most likely direction for him to go. So as quietly as possible, Redfield led the way toward the door, and after sighing with relief when it was discovered that there was no giant snake around, the concern for his teammates came back when he found that there was no sign of _them_ , either.

"Where could they have gone?" The young woman asked, both of them stepping farther into the room. "They couldn't have just _disappeared_ … could they?"

Yes, from what had happened with both Burton and Wesker so far, it was _completely_ possible for someone to simply vanish in this place... but where to? There were no more doors, causing a knot to form in the young man's stomach as he imagined Chambers and Aiken having both been eaten alive… but then Valentine discovered the tunnel. As ridiculous as it sounded, there was a small tunnel going through the wall, which led into another hallway.

"Holy shit!" Redfield exclaimed, pushing her back almost immediately after getting through the other side. "Jill, look out!"

It was a snake, just as Aiken had described; longer than could be believed, and as big around as the trunk of a large oak… but the top half of its head was also missing… the thing was dead, but what had killed it? From the burn marks around the edges of the missing part of the monster's head, Redfield guessed that it was killed by some kind of explosion… hey, maybe Chambers and Aiken were still around there somewhere.

No… no, of course they weren't. With the giant snake having been dealt with, the young man figured that it was safe enough for the two of them to make a quick recon of this new area of the house, but although there were plenty signs of weapons fire inside what looked like a ruined library, and a heliport that was visible from some kind of observation room on the other end of the hallway, there was still no sign of the others.

"Do you think?" Redfield began, pointing at the open, empty elevator shaft next to the snake's head. "Maybe they went down there?"

It made sense; the broken elevator grating had scorch marks like it was hit with the same explosion that had gotten the giant snake, and the car itself was gone, so maybe. Sure, Aiken was a reasonably smart guy, so maybe he rigged up some kind of bomb, and then he and Chambers had used the elevator to escape before it went off. Actually… no… the remaining cables and ropes from the elevator were burned and blackened as well, meaning that the car had probably been caught in the blast.

"Well, there's _no_ sign of them up _here_." She suggested, using the flashlight on her pistol to look down into the shaft. "You fancy a climb, Chris?"

Honestly, no, he didn't, but there also didn't seem to be any other choice, since Chambers and Aiken could have been hurt if they were down there… or worse. Valentine was the lighter of the two, so she grabbed onto the still hanging cable in the elevator shaft, and started climbing down, vanishing into the darkness for several seconds, before calling up that she had just about made it to the bottom.

 _Snap!_ Fraying underneath her weight, the damaged and burned cable broke apart, breaking off completely, and falling down into the shaft after her, just as the young woman let out a short, but startled scream. Finding himself just standing there like an idiot as the cable fell down, as if not sure if it had really happened, Redfield eventually reacted, shining his own flashlight down into the shaft, while frantically calling out to her.

"I'm okay… Chris, I'm okay." Valentine called back up with pain in her voice. "I only fell a few feet, but _man_ … hey, Chris… Chris, I don't see another way for you to get down here."

According to the young woman, the elevator car was in fact down there, damaged, but empty, meaning that their teammates could have been still alive, but… once again the two of them were going to have to find separate ways around to each other. She also commented on how awful the smell was down there, meaning that… well, shit, in this place, a foul stench could have meant _anything_.

"Jill, just… find a way out of there, okay?" He asked, turning off his flashlight. "I'm gonna see if I can find some… I don't know, basement stairs we missed or something."

"Okay, I will, but Chris, be careful, all right?" The young woman called back up. "That creature might still be after you."

Oh… that statement made Redfield feel so much better… but she was right, so freezing in place, the young man listened intently to everything around him. Rain pounding on the roof… wind and thunder outside… no footsteps or shrieks, though. Aside from heading back through the tunnel, where the clawed creature was more likely to be found if it had gotten back inside, there _had_ been another door inside of that observation room, but it was locked with the same kind of passcode lock that…

Was it possible? Was the observation room what was on the other side of the door that Chambers had once made fun of him for trying to open? Getting up, and moving back to the far end of the hall, Redfield entered the observation room, and then got down so that he could see under the door, and… hardwood floor… obnoxiously bright yellow wallpaper… yeah, this was _definitely_ that same door… but how in the hell was he supposed to get through?

Beginning by putting in a few sequences of random numbers… and then a few more… and then even more… the young man quickly became frustrated, kicking the door, but only succeeding in hurting his foot. This door was _tough_ , and the lock was even tougher, meaning that he would probably just waste bullets if he tried shooting his way through. His anger and frustration only grew as he imagined the head of RPD Homicide Division laughing at him for not being able to think his way through this situation… hey maybe that was it.

Redfield hated the detective who ran Homicide, in fact, almost _everyone_ in STARS did, except for Marini and Burton… but now the young man was thinking back… back a few years to his Rookie time, when that same detective had been his training officer… what was it that he used to say? Something about… _a situation never being hopeless unless it was intentionally designed that was from the beginning_ … yeah, that was the start.

" _Deep breath… not gonna solve anything if you're so mad you can't see straight_." He repeated the old advice to himself, taking a breath. " _The Academy is the only place where an obstacle has a ridiculous time limit… take in every detail… sometimes you gotta think like a criminal_."

The door was too strong to break, and the lock was just… impossible… but during his deep breath, Redfield noticed that the hinges were exposed on this side of the door, meaning that it was made to swing _toward_ him… it wasn't meant to stop access from the side he was on, but… maybe the hinges were the key. Unlike the door and lock, the hinges looked like the standard ones that could be bought at _The Home Depot_ , so maybe that was the key.

Pulling his knife out of its sheath, the young man moved up to the top hinge, and carefully worked the tip of the blade underneath the cap. _Yes_ , it started moving upward! The blade slipped off a couple times, but soon the entire locking pin of the top hinge of the door was pulled out. The middle and bottom ones followed, each one becoming a little easier until the task was done, followed by Redfield sheathing his knife before once again kicking the door, but on the opposite side from the lock.

 _Crash!_ Without the locking pins to support the hinges, the door was knocked from its frame, spinning sideways as the latch worked itself from the lock, and then falling on the floor. How's _that_ for number combinations, he thought as he walked over it triumphantly. All right, so getting out of there and back to a familiar part of the house was taken care of… but now he still had to find Valentine, Chambers, and Aiken.

The good news was that between the two of them, he and Valentine had explored literally every square inch of the main house… except for two doors that he could think of… and _both_ of them were in this part of the mansion. The first door that he needed to check was right next to the stairwell up ahead, so he took a moment to listen for that creature, and then took out the key that Wesker had given him. Click, it turned in the lock, allowing Redfield to pull open the door, but he was kind of disappointed when it opened into a small office instead of a set of stairs leading to the basement.

Like most offices, there was a desk and chair, full bookcase of what looked like college textbooks… and a large moose head mounted on the wall? Sure, lots of people collected hunting trophies, but there weren't any moose in the Arklay Mountains, so… wait a second… there was something odd about this moose head. There was only a small lamp on the desk to illuminate this room, but after tilting the neck so that it shined directly onto the moose, something reflected back.

Leaving the lamp aimed like that, and walking over to the moose head, the young man pulled it down, but then cried out… stumbling backwards since the thing was a lot heavier than he imagined. Dropping it backwards over his head, and falling over the chair in a failed attempt to catch himself, both he and the trophy crashed to the floor at the same time… only the moose head broke apart. Oh well, at least there was no way for him to get in trouble for braking someone's property, he thought as he rolled over onto his hands and knees.

Some soreness was lingering from where his back had struck the chair, but when he stopped to try and stretch it out, there was something red and shiny lying among the broken pieces of the hunting trophy. It looked like a really long nail, but made of some kind of red crystal or glass, with the head kind of looking like an eye… but with an elongated pupil. Like a cat would have.

Hopefully this whole side trip wasn't a waste of time, the young man thought as he put the red object into one of his pouches. Okay… now it was time to find the others… before that clawed creature did.


	30. Chapter 30 Some Tigers Have a Blue Eye

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Thirty: Some Tigers Have a Blue Eye**

When the cable had broken, Valentine only fell a few feet onto the top of the broken elevator car at the bottom of the shaft, but the landing onto the hinge was so rough that she was still rubbing her rear from the lingering soreness after climbing the rest of the way down. Just like when the vine attacked, and before that when the one-way door had separated them, Redfield was gone, leaving her all alone _once again_ to explore a new area of the mansion.

The smell of this place was awful, making sense when the young woman walked around the corner into the kitchen, where the rancid remains of food would have made her vomit if not for being able to hold her nose with one hand. Thankfully, the room, which was dominated by a large food preparation island in the center, was still pretty small, with only a single door in sight… well, maybe it _used_ to be a door.

Burn marks all around the doorframe, along with the splintered remains of the door itself, and something that Valentine thought… might have once been a zombie. These were the same kind of marks that had been found on the edges of what remained of the giant snake's head, and there was still no sign of Chambers or Aiken, so had this all been from a weapon that the wounded man was carrying? If so, then that plus the grenade that Wesker had produced to destroy Plant 42's roots meant that… that the Supply Sergeant back at the RPD was _totally_ unfair when it came to issuing arms.

"Why couldn't _I_ have a God damn grenade?" The young woman grumbled to herself, trying to carefully step over the charred zombie as she left the kitchen. " _No, Jill, you're fine, you'll just have to nearly get crushed to death if you want anything better than that pistol_."

Some of the soreness that she had been feeling from the rough landing was fading away with the more that she moved around, as was the lingering effects of being all wrapped up by the giant plant, so climbing the short staircase was easier than Valentine feared. It only went up to the first floor, though, but at least there were some familiar sights when she opened the door at the top. This was the hallway where she and Redfield had first gotten separated… where she had seen that first zombie… and found Sullivan.

Hopefully when this was all over, they would have gathered enough information to put whoever was responsible for this behind bars… since at this point it would have been pretty ignorant to assume that all of this had happened purely by chance. With the notes that they had found, and the Umbrella crates in the basement, it was pretty safe to assume that at least part of it had been intentional… but what the hell could have caused all the animal mutations, as well as the… the _zombification_ of all these people?

Gasping when she heard a noise, the young woman froze mid-step, realizing that the time for thinking about these things was over, when she found that she was no longer alone in the hallway. Down at the far end of the corridor, halfway hidden by the corner that led into the tea room, was the dark green frame of one of those clawed creatures. It was facing away from her, and just kind of staring downward as if confused by the body of Kenneth Sullivan… but how long before it noticed her?

After how the fight went against the last one… assuming that this one was different since it didn't appear to have any gunshot wounds, Valentine was definitely _not_ in a hurry to face another one… but what was she going to do? Moving any farther down the hallway could have attracted its attention, as could retreating back to the kitchen… where she would be cornered… there was a door right next to her, though… the one way door where she had originally lost Redfield.

Oh well, having to take the long way around was better than facing another one of those clawed creatures, so she turned the knob as quietly as she could, finding it odd that it opened this time as if someone had undone the lock at some point, and held her breath while carefully stepping through. Keeping the knob turned so that there would be no click when it shut again, Valentine let out a long sigh of relief once it was closed, stopping herself quickly since she didn't know how good the thing's hearing was.

Best to get away from the door… yeah, get out of its field of perception, and then start looking for her missing partner. Still trying not to make any noise as she tip-toed down this new hallway… well, new to her, since Redfield must've already cleared it earlier, she pulled open the first door that she came to, which left her face to face with a large white creature as soon as she looked inside. No, wait… it was a statue… a big, white tiger statue that some _asshole_ had put in just to fuck with her.

Seriously, what was such a big and scary tiger statue doing inside of a little half-bath with… holy shit, Chambers?! Yes, it was her… the short haired girl was just lying there in an almost unnatural position, like she had collapsed there… and she was looking pretty rough with bruises forming, as well as burn marks on her face and clothes. The answer to what had killed the giant snake, as well as causing all the other damage to the house, when Valentine saw the Arwen grenade launcher clutched in her hands so tightly that her knuckles were white… but where was Aiken?

"Rebecca?" She said, still trying to be quiet as she knelt down and listened for her breath. "Rebecca, it's Jill, can you hear me?"

The short haired girl was breathing, but she was completely passed out, and the young woman didn't want to do anything that could hurt her, like try to move her neck or slap her awake… so she did the only other available thing: Fill up the cup sitting on the sink with water, and dump it on Chambers' face. The effect was almost instant, the short haired girl coughing and squirming around a bit, before opening her eyes… and scooting back up against the wall like she didn't know where she was.

"Rebecca, it's okay." Valentine quickly said, grabbing the weapon from her when she reflexively tried to aim it. "Rebecca, you're safe, okay? There's nothing in here that's going to…

Suddenly the young woman's words were cut off when Chambers rushed forward, throwing her arms around Valentine, and squeezing tightly as she cried into her shoulder. Then came the awful, and sometimes unintelligible depending on how hard the short haired girl was crying, tale of what happened after she and Redfield had left the main house. The short version was that Aiken had gone after the snake that had bitten him, only to get his fool-self killed, and leaving Chambers to deal with the monster on her own.

On one hand it was horrible that another of their team had lost his life on this mission, but it was also pretty damn impressive that their youngest and newest member had been able to take on that gigantic thing all by herself. Of course, praising her for killing the thing that had killed her boyfriend at this time… might not have been considered sensitive, so she just hugged the short haired girl back for a few minutes until the tears stopped on their own.

"I'm really sorry about Richard, Rebecca." Valentine said, putting her hands on Chambers' shoulders when they separated. "I really am, but we have to keep our heads on straight if _any_ of us are going to get out of this place alive."

Now came the part where the young woman had to explain everything that had happened to her since they had separated on the other side of the house, including the encounters with the new clawed creatures that just seemed… so much worse than anything else they had encountered so far. After everything that the members of STARS had gone through since leaving the RPD, Valentine had hoped to find something useful during her second trip through the mansion, but so far the only interesting things were those creatures… which didn't really need to exist, as far as she was concerned… and that stupid tiger statue that made no…

Hey, wait a second, there was something strange about the statue, and not just its placement. It was the eyes, or rather how it didn't seem to have any… just a pair of empty holes that actually looked more like slots to put something… reaching down and opening her pouch, the young woman took out the blue glass object that she had recovered from the room with all the paintings. The head certainly _looked_ like a cat's eye, with the long part seeming to be about the same size as the slot, so she tried to insert it into the right eye… but it didn't fit.

"Okay, maybe not." She said, looking at it, and then at the statue again. "Or maybe it goes into the _left_ eye."

 _Click_ , that was it, the blue glass object slid easily into place, and then something could be heard moving… like a set of gears built into the wall behind the statue… but that was it. Nothing else moved, as if the whole mechanism had started to work, but then forgot what it was doing… of course that probably had something to do with the fact that there was still an eye missing on the statue.

Well, that was just _awesome_ , the young woman thought, since in all of this place, plenty of which she had already explored, that blue glass piece was the _only one_ that she had come across. This really wasn't much to go on, since this thing was more likely to be a compartment for storing something valuable, than a weapon or anything as precious as an escape route… this wasn't _Clue_ after all, where the secret passage would take them into _Mr. Body's_ private study.

"All right, so it's back to exploration, I guess." Valentine said, sighing with disappointment. "But like I said, it's gotten _a lot_ more dangerous out there, so we're gonna have to stay quiet, and…

Suddenly her words were interrupted by the sound of the latch turning behind her, and then both women gasped as the door was pulled open before they could react at all.


	31. Chapter 31 And a Red Eye

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Thirty One: And a Red Eye**

Venturing back out into the incredibly yellow hallway once he was sure that there was nothing of value left inside the office, Redfield had to squint a little because of the bright color, and because of this he was relieved when he got back down the stairs to the far more darkly decorated hallway below. So far there was no sign of that clawed creature, nor of the zombies that he had snuck past during his first trek through this part of the house… oh, _there_ they were… both of them lying dead near the room where he had first found Chambers… she must have dealt with them when running to get the anti-venom for Aiken.

That girl was a lot more capable than she looked, the young man thought as he reached the bottom of the stairs and started looking around. Okay, the only remaining door that he hadn't checked out was the locked one that he had passed down toward the far end, so trying to move quietly in order to not attract any unwanted attention, he crept down the hallway, and put the key into the lock.

Yes! It not only fit, but the door was unlocked a moment later, allowing him open it and step through into… an empty room. Oh, _wonderful_ , he thought while stepping into the brightly lit, but dusty and neglected room full of shelving units but not much else. No secret escape route, no stairs into the basement so that he could save Valentine… just dust, and cobwebs… thankfully the normal size ones, and… wait a second, what was that?

Over there, sitting on the second shelf of the upper unit was a metal object. It was literally the only thing in the whole room, but that was all right, considering what it was. The object, left alone and neglected inside of this locked room, was an old _Smith & Wesson M49 .44 Magnum_ revolver… with only enough bullets to fill the six round cylinder. That was fine, though, since it was more than he had before.

"You could take out a _Buick_ with one of these." He commented, closing the chamber and aiming to get used to the different weight than his 9mm. "I didn't even know they still _made_ them."

Old but effective, Redfield tucked the revolver into his belt, ready to leave the now completely empty storage room and move on… back through the blue section of hallway where the window had broken, if he remembered properly. Resolved not to use the bigger weapon unless there was a dire emergency, like if that clawed creature came back, the young man readied his pistol as he reached the door at the far end, and slowly pulled it open.

Yep, this was where the window was broken, but at least the unmuffled sound of wind and rain was helping to mask the sound of his movements… until he started to hear something coming from inside one of the doors that he was passing on the way through. Thanks to the weather than was masking his own sounds, it was also impossible to tell from outside what it was that was moving around inside of the small bathroom… or was this the bedroom?

He couldn't remember which side of the hall the different rooms were on, so he decided to just open the door and get the drop on whatever was inside… before it got the drop on him. Grabbing the knob and pulling it open, Redfield gasped when he saw that it was none other than Valentine and Chambers, who also gasped at the same time. Now, it might have been stress from the mission, or maybe because there was a thunder crash at the exact same moment, but the short haired girl was so startled that she cried out while taking out her pistol.

 _Bang!_ Valentine grabbed the weapon, and the young man tried to move out of the way, the combination of which probably saved his life as a bullet hole formed in the wall where his head had just been. Also, instead of leaping out of the way, he did a kind of clumsy sideways tumble onto the floor, followed by an uncoordinated, frightened crabwalk around behind the wall where she couldn't aim at him.

"Rebecca, it's me!" He yelled, sitting up against the wall. "Holy shit, Rebecca, its Chris!"

"Chris, are you all right?" Valentine asked after being heard taking the pistol from Chambers. "I'm really sorry about that, she's just… been through a lot since we left."

Once there was no longer a danger of getting shot by his own teammate, the young man slowly came back around the wall, closing the door behind him just in case all the commotion attracted any unwanted attention. Well, that was one missing team member down… and apparently she would be the _only_ one, based on the story he was then told about what happened to Aiken.

"Good _God_." Redfield managed to say after the whole story was completed. "It's like we're being _picked off_ , one by one. Jill, give Rebecca her weapons back, she's not going to shoot me… okay, we need to go get Wesker and Barry, and we're gonna have to take our chances together out…

Stopping in mid-sentence when he looked up at the tiger statue that had scared the life out of him earlier, the young man noticed that there was now a blue glass eye inserted into one of the empty holes, as well as a slot in the empty one that he hadn't noticed before. Reaching into his pouch, and taking out the decorative piece of red glass that he had found in the office upstairs… the tail of it looking a lot like the shape of the slot… he pressed the object into the hole, making it appear as if the tiger had a blue eye and a red eye.

Now there was a sound like some kind of gears turning inside the wall behind the statue, leaving all of them kind of confused as to what was about to happen, until the statue itself started to move. There was a stony kind of scraping sound as the whole thing, including the mounting plate behind it, slowly shifted sideways to reveal what looked like a door. A hidden passageway behind a statue… now Redfield really _had_ seen everything.

Once the passageway was completely open, a set of lights came on; single caged bulbs that hung from a metal conduit that ran along the rocky ceiling. It was a downward stairway, carved into the natural yellowish brown rock that made up the walls as well, making the whole thing look like the entrance to some kind of _cave_. More lights were coming on at the bottom, but the caged bulbs were spaced so far apart that there were areas of darkness in between each one.

"You think… maybe it's a way out?" Chambers asked, joining them to look downward. "Some kind of secret escape tunnel like in _The Temple of Doom_?"

"Aw, hell, who even _knows_ anymore?" Valentine replied, shaking her head. "This whole place, it's like… it's like some kind of dark, twisted _Alice and Wonderland_ … spy novel that got edited by _George Romero_ or something."

Pretty accurate description, Redfield thought as they just kept looking down into the cave… but there was really no choice other than to keep moving forward… unless they wanted to backtrack through the mansion where there were even _more_ of those clawed creatures, according to Valentine. So he readied his pistol, and took the first steps down the damp, stone stairs.

The storm could no longer be heard raging outside, but it was replaced by the echoing sounds of dripping water… in fact, as they moved down the stairs, into the first chamber of what almost looked like a natural cave, it seemed that every single sound generated was echoing as well. No zombies, though… no dogs, spiders, or plants… was it possible that this cave had been completely sealed off from whatever happened to the rest of the estate?

If so, then they were safe, at least for the moment, but now with two paths to choose from, each looking pretty identical… no, there was _no way_ they were splitting up again, so the young man took the quarter out of his pocket, and gave it a quick toss. With heads for the left path, and tails for the right, the coin was heads when he lifted his hand, so the three of them started down toward the right.

Redfield was in the front, with Chambers covering him with her grenade launcher, and Valentine watching for threats behind them, the small group followed the path away from the first chamber, where it curved downward, becoming narrow for a short time before heading slightly back upward toward another opening where… where the storm outside could be heard again?

"Is that it?" Valentine asked, trying to see up ahead. "Is there really a way out?"

"I don't know." Redfield quickly replied. "But even if it is, we've got to stay focused and close together. Remember, those dogs are still out there, and without a way to signal Brad to pick us up, it's a _long_ walk back to Raccoon City."

However, as the small group reached the opening and walked into the smaller chamber, they found that the storm was being heard, not through an exit from the cave system, but from a small hole in the ceiling high above, where it couldn't possibly be reached. Small amounts of rain and wind were being let in from above as well, wetting the rocky floor a little bit at a time, and the young man's eyes followed the spreading water… over to the edge of a pair of boots that was sticking just far enough out of the shadows for the soles to be seen.

"Don't come any closer!" A gruff voice ordered, followed by the unmistakable _click-click_ of a pistol being chambered. "Who is that over there?! Turn the fuck around, keep your God damn hands high above your head, and slowly walk toward the sound of my voice!"

"Hey, hey, hold it!" Redfield immediately replied, holstering his weapon and putting up his hands. "We don't want any trouble, we just… wait a second, I know that voice."

"It's Enrico Marini!" Chambers nearly squealed with delight after squinting to see the figure hidden by the darkness. "Chris, we found Captain Marini!"


	32. Chapter 32 Marini's Warning

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Thirty Two: Marini's Warning**

Up above there was a brief, but powerful flash of light that illuminated the dark parts of the underground chamber as it came through the opening. There, in the moment before the rumbling of thunder followed, Valentine had been able to see the form of Enrico Marini, Captain of STARS Bravo Team, sitting with his back against the rocky wall. He was dirty, with cuts on his uniform, and one of his legs, the one that stayed straight, was severely swollen.

"Jill… is that you over there?" The Captain asked, pain lingering in his voice as he lowered his pistol. "And… Chris? Who else is there with you; nobody move, just _answer_ me."

"Just me." Chambers quickly replied. "Rebecca Chambers, uh… sir. We've been looking _everywhere_ for you… how in the _world_ did you get all the way down _here_?"

Marini let out a sigh of relief after finding that no one else was with them, followed by a groan of agony when his leg moved as he tried to sit up higher on the wall. Even before the short haired girl was able to go over to him and take a look, the young woman knew that it was broken, which Chambers confirmed after she was done, and the Captain must have been there in that same spot ever since.

"After we found this place, we all split up to secure the area." Marini explained, taking a break to have some water along with the painkiller that the short haired girl provided. "I told everyone to hold position while I moved in further, and then I saw the courtyard through a window… where is everyone else right now?"

"Barry and Wesker are investigating the staff building." Redfield explained. "Brad's flying around up there, and Frost… he didn't make it."

"Kenneth, Forest, and Richard were killed, too." Valentine added, hesitant to reveal this, since she didn't want to upset him while his leg was like that. "We're glad we found you, though… when we didn't find you in the mansion with the others, we didn't know _what_ to think."

According to the Captain, he had done some investigating on his own, even going so far as to enter the staff building on his own, although thankfully not going in too far, since Plant 42 would have surely killed him if he had been discovered. This had been before the storm hit, and Marini had been on his way back to the main house, having used a window to gain access to the courtyard without that special key, when he had been attacked by a swarm of crows.

The birds had been relentless, ignoring his gunfire and continuing the pursuit no matter how many of them had been taken down with each bullet. Out of desperation, the Captain had run back across the courtyard over to an old well, and tried to use the rope and winch to climb down for safety. The good news was that the birds hadn't followed him down into the well, but the bad news was that the old, rotted rope had broken under his weight, leading to his current predicament… but even with as lucky as the others had been that the rain kept the birds back, that was not the most disturbing part of his account.

"We've been set up." Marini explained, reaching into his pocket, but producing a piece of paper that was waterlogged and destroyed. "Aw, damn it… it was all here; the first page of some guy's will or something… all of this, this _whole_ place, and _us_ being here was all planned out by Umbrella from the start. Don't you see, we were led here like cattle, and according to this paper it could have only been by…

 _Bang!_ A sudden gunshot from behind, the bullet striking the Captain in the neck, making him gag and bleed profusely while a set of heavy footsteps could be heard running away, echoing as they quickly vanished back down the tunnel. Without hesitation, Redfield ran after the sound, clearly intent on capturing whoever this mysterious traitor was, who Marini believed had led them all there to die.

"Oh, my God!" Chambers exclaimed as she did her best, but failed to stop his throat from bleeding. "Oh, my God… no… Captain Marini! Enrico, stay with me! No… oh, my God, no!"

Just like that he was gone, letting out a final gagging, choking breath, before hanging his head and just… stopping. As much as the loss of yet _another_ teammate hurt, and as much as Valentine wanted to scream in frustration like the short haired girl was now doing, this was absolutely the _worst_ time for any of them to lose their heads. Now not only were they trapped zombies and mutated monsters, but now there was the chance that someone there with them was a traitor.

But who, she wondered? Most of the members of STARS had already been killed, leaving only six people left… five since the young woman, herself wasn't the one… and four since Vickers wasn't even there, nor was he capable. Okay, enough beating around the bush; since Valentine didn't believe that either Chambers or Redfield could be responsible, the only suspects remaining were Burton and Wesker.

Both of them had been acting suspicious as hell throughout the entire mission, with the big man's behavior actually being just a little more suspicious than their Captain's, but… there was all that time when Wesker was just gone, and Burton hadn't left her to die when he had _plenty_ of opportunity. Then again, the Captain had helped Redfield with the sharks _and_ against Plant 42, so… wow, the evidence was pretty evenly stacked, making it hard to draw any kind of real conclusion.

"Who could have done this?!" Chambers exclaimed, angry and scared at the same time with blood on her hands. "But why… Jill, why would someone do this to us?! STARS is supposed to be like a family, and… and…

"Rebecca, you've _got_ to get a hold of yourself." The young woman replied, grabbing her by the shoulders while trying to fight back tears of her own. "If someone's responsible for this, then they'll pay for it, I promise you, but right now we have to go and help Chris."

Thankfully, the short haired girl responded right away, and the two of them were able to start heading back down the tunnel… after, um… after they both almost lost it again while taking the extra ammo that Marini had been carrying. Ammo for both the shotgun and grenade launcher was getting low, but at least there was plenty left for their pistols… not that 9mm bullets were going to do much good against the stocky dark green creature that was waiting for them back inside the first chamber.

Valentine was just coming around the curve back to where they had entered the underground system, when one of the clawed creatures stepped off of the staircase, the two of them remaining motionless for a couple seconds while staring at each other… the young woman then trying to raise her shotgun at the same time that the monster started to shriek while charging forward with claws open for the kill.

 _Fwoosh-boom!_ Apparently Chambers had been able to react before either of them, a small object leaving a trial of smoke as it flew past her, and then causing a small explosion as the clawed creature was thrown backwards… while both of its arms flew off in different directions. When the smoke cleared, the two women could see that a kind of discolored green blood was pouring out from the large hole in its chest while the monster slowly… _very_ slowly stopped moving.

Looking up at the top of the stairs, Valentine could see that the tiger door was still open, meaning that any of the clawed creatures in the main house who stumbled into the bathroom could get down into the caves as well. The door probably couldn't be shut without removing the glass eyes, which would trap them down in the caves if there was no other way out, just like collapsing the stairwell with the grenade launcher would as well… damn it, no choice but to move on before more of them showed up.

"Come on, we gotta go." The young woman said, turning her attention to the tunnel ahead. "We gotta catch up to Chris!"

The tunnel up ahead curved around just like the other one had, heading slightly downward for a short distance, but instead of going back upward, the passage simply ended at a pair of rusting, metal double doors that looked like they hadn't been used in a while. From where they were, there was literally nowhere else to go except through those metal doors, so Valentine pressed down the latch, finding that it opened fairly easily, aside from the long _squeak_ of the hinges as the door was pulled open.

Now, literally everywhere on the estate that they had explored so far, even the courtyard, had provided some kind of light, no matter how dull, but this big, open chamber that the two women stepped into was _completely_ dark. There was a soft draft that came from somewhere, and the floor was actually kind of sticky, like something had been spilled across the floor and never cleaned up. Switching on the small flashlights mounted on their pistols, the beams of light did more than expected, especially when Valentine aimed it up at the ceiling so that the light would reflect.

The walls, floor, and ceiling of this place were surprisingly reflective, as if some kind of special coating had been put down, but the whole place was surprisingly empty. Well, there were a few old crates stacked up in the corner, another set of doors on the other side of the room… and something that made the young woman's breath freeze in mid gasp. There were things hung from the ceiling… large sack-like objects that she had only seen in _one_ other place… the break room of the staff building.

Suddenly one of the sacks moved, causing Chambers and Valentine to jump back and cry out, turning their flashlight beams onto it while the thing wriggled like a worm, all the while making muffled sounds as if it were trying to talk. Could it be? Could someone from this place have survived all of this? Would they finally get some answers as to what was really going on? Not likely, since the face that was revealed when the sticky substance was pulled off was the one that belonged to Redfield, and…

"Behind you!" The young man exclaimed, trying and failing to free himself from the cocoon. "Look out, it's behind you!"

Turning away from him and shining her flashlight toward the other side of the room while Chambers started trying to free their trapped comrade, the young woman's heart nearly stopped when she saw the shadowy figure that was now crawling out of its hiding place over on the other side of the chamber. The massive, eight legged figure that dwarfed everything they had seen up until this point, with the exception of Plant 42, and now its foot long fangs were dripping venom, shiny black eyes reflecting the flashlight as it started walking toward them.


	33. Chapter 33 Devil in the Dark

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Thirty Three: Devil in the Dark**

Seeing the gigantic, dark colored, monstrosity in the flashlight beams made it even more frightening than if the room had actually been illuminated, somehow scaring Redfield even more now than when he had been ambushed by it a few minutes before. After leaving the chamber in pursuit of the mysterious footsteps, the young man followed the trail past the stairs back into the main house, and through the double doors into the darkness, where the footsteps just seemed to… vanish.

Realizing that the room was dark only after the doors had closed, Redfield had bene fumbling to get his flashlight on, when suddenly it felt like a net or something had been thrown over him, before something powerful pulled him to the ground, and then he was spinning… no, more like being rolled around and… wrapped up in _duct tape_ , maybe? Helpless didn't quite describe how the young man felt as he was completely wrapped up by what felt like a whole bunch of really strong assailants.

It was all so disorienting that he didn't even realize that he was upside down until after he had been hung up by whatever the stuff was that he was encased in, and the assailants just… left. Of course, now that the two women had partially freed him, and their flashlights illuminated the true identity of his attacker… the young man actually wished that it _had_ been a group of murderers.

"Don't just stand there!" He yelled, still trying to free himself. "Shoot the damn thing!"

 _Boom!_ With one of the flashlight beams vanishing as Valentine readied her shotgun, the whole chamber was illuminated by a brief flash of light, making the young man understand why there were so few zombies in and around the main house, given how many people such a place could hold… it was because they were all down there… dozens upon dozens of cocoons, some with partially exposed skeletons visible, were hanging down from the ceiling.

As for the shotgun shell, it struck the monstrosity in one of the front legs, stopping its advance as it held up the wounded leg as if examining it… and then resuming the walk as if nothing happened. _Fwoosh-boom!_ While Redfield struggled to reach his knife, and slowly worked to free himself, Chambers used her weapon as well, hitting the giant spider right in the center of the face.

Hissing and stumbling sideways, the monstrosity's whole body shook for a second after falling against the wall as if it were trying to shake it off, and then the giant spider got to its feet, although a couple of its shiny black eyes were missing. One of the large fangs had been blown off as well, but that didn't stop the monster from continuing its advance, even as there was a loud thud when Redfield finally freed himself, falling to the floor.

Struggling to free himself from the remains of the web… huh, the spider must not have bene hungry at the time when it captured him… the young man reached for the large magnum revolver on his belt, fumbling a bit while trying to aim from such an awkward position, he pulled the trigger, and _BOOM!_ There was so much kick that the revolver nearly flew from his hands while the large caliber bullet slammed into one of the spider's legs, severing it completely, and causing the monster to _hiss_ violently as it backed off a little.

Although their weapons were clearly injuring the monstrosity, there just wasn't enough damage being done, and each of them only had so many bullets. Retreat was an option, although going back would get them nowhere, and well… well, shit, now the monster had moved in front of the other door, pretty much taking that route out of the question. Even without its one leg and a few of its eyes, the giant spider was still moving around like it was fine… which was not at _all_ fine for the three of them.

"Chris, it's not stopping!" Chambers exclaimed with a frightened tone. "What do we do?!"

"All right, we're each going to have to pick a leg." The young man said while the spider seemed to be… glaring angrily at them. "If we can blow off the rest of them, then it won't…

The plan was a long shot, and kind of ridiculous, but at that moment also no longer mattered as the double doors were kicked open by the large figure of Barry Burton… illuminated by flickering orange light that was coming from the object he was carrying. With a carefully aimed toss as soon as he was all the way inside the chamber, the orange light left a trail as the object flew through the air, and then it exploded into a fireball when it connected with the spider's huge body.

Flames spread across the monster's abdomen, causing it to hiss and start moving around in circles, while the big man stepped back outside of the room, coming back in with a can of gasoline a second later, and tossing some of it toward the beast. The giant spider's body was now completely enflamed, with fire starting to spread to its web from both the gas that had spilled onto the floor, as well as parts of the wall that the burning monster touched.

Throwing more and more gas onto the hissing, retreating spider until its movements started to slow down, Burton tossed the empty can at the thing as well, taking out his revolver to finish the job, but not needing to. With a final hiss, and some jerky leg movements, the spider collapsed, no longer moving as its body was slowly burnt away… while also creating a disturbing atmosphere when the cocoons started to fall to the floor when the part holding them to the ceiling was burned off.

"Let's get out of here." Redfield suggested, coughing a bit as the room started filling with smoke. "Come on, this way."

Having to step around, the burning, smoking body as more cocoons fell, just adding more fuel to the flames, the young man led the way, nearly screaming when a cocoon fell down on top of him, and then pushing the doors open on the far side of the room, and allowing the four of them to escape into another chamber of the cave system. Like the first part, it was illuminated by the conduit lights stretching across the ceiling, but no immediate danger in sight, and only one way to go forward.

"Looks like you showed up just in time, Barry… again." Valentine said as everyone caught their breath. "But what was that, a Molotov? Where did you even find the stuff to make it?"

"From that bar we found earlier." The big man explained. "Remember, the one with the piano, and all those expensive wines? Everything I needed was there, even the matches, and good thing, too, by the looks of it. I'm just glad I got there in time."

"Where's Wesker?" Redfield asked. "I thought you were staying at the other house to watch his back… is he somewhere around here, too?"

Where he had been so chatty and forthcoming a moment ago, Burton actually became a little evasive when asked about their Captain, instead suggesting that all of them check their ammo since it had been a while since they had found any extra. Regardless of his motivation for suggesting it, it was a good idea, so the four of them all did a quick count of all their weapons, with the end result being… not very good.

"Well, the good news is that we got plenty of pistol ammo." Valentine reported as they all reloaded as much as they could. "The bad news is that we've got four rounds for the grenade launcher, six for Barry's magnum, five for Chris's, and a grand total of sever shells left for the shotgun."

Technically this was _all_ good news, since they had all entered the mansion with nothing _but_ their pistols, with the exception of Burton's revolver… however, since each part of the estate that the group explored had been more and more dangerous… yeah, they really needed to find a way to signal Vickers in the helicopter, and get the hell out of there. After what had happened to Captain Marini, and the warnings of a traitor that he had given before getting shot in the damn throat, Redfield wanted to investigate the others, he _really_ wanted to… but getting everyone out alive was more important.

"All right, let's all stick together this time." Burton said, moving up to the front of the group. "Chris, you watch the rear… let's move."

The big man was still his superior, and without any actual evidence of wrongdoing, the young man had no choice but to fall in line with whatever he, as well as Wesker, wherever the hell he was, told him to do. Damn, Redfield wished that the paper Marini had found hadn't gotten destroyed by the rain, since it pretty well revealed who the Captain believed the traitor to STARS was… whoever it was.

Now that they had gotten through the chamber where that gargantuan spider had been living, and were moving farther away from the main house where those clawed creatures were lurking, this new part of the underground system was pretty uneventful. It was all just as damp and echoing as the first part had been, moving up and down as the tunnel curved an a seemingly endless circle… at least until it suddenly ended.

There had been a couple small storage rooms carved into side chambers, none of which contained anything interesting, save for some more broken crates bearing the Umbrella logo, and then just like that there was no more tunnel. Nothing but a metal ladder bolted into the stone wall, going up the length of at least two stories to what looked like a trap door. Now that they had reached the end of the tunnel, Burton ordered everyone to take up a defensive position while Redfield checked out the ladder.

"All right, cover me." The young man said, more to Valentine than to the big man. "Here I go."

Holstering his pistol, Redfield mounted the ladder, and heard each of his steps echoing with a soft _clang_ as he climbed all the way up to the trap door, which was thankfully unlocked. The latch was a little warped, though, probably from the dampness of the underground caves, but with a little effort… okay, a lot more effort than expected, there was a hard _bam_ when it released. A long, metallic _screech_ of the hinges later the door was open, allowing the young man to climb up into a place that reminded him of the staff house basement, due to the mostly concrete construction.

Bright, _bright_ fluorescent lights were across the ceiling, making him have to shield his eyes for a moment until he got used to them. This place was cold, much colder than the rest of the estate, probably due to the air coming out of the nearby vents… and he could no longer hear the rain pouring down onto the roof, so… was he still underground? There were no windows where he was, just a small metal door to the right, and a very big and heavy set of metal double doors that looked like they should have been part of a bank vault instead of there.

Nothing… nothing they had could have forced those things open, and there was some kind of warning sign on the wall next to it, saying something about the door only opening during something called a _First Class Emergency_. This didn't concern the young man, at least, not as much as the sign painted above the reinforced doors… the words that read:

 _HELIPORT ACCESS_


	34. Chapter 34 Traitors

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Thirty Four: Traitors**

Every time that Valentine thought she had this place all figured out, something even stranger would happen, such as passing through a secret passage behind a tiger statue, traveling through an underground cave, and then climbing up into some kind of hidden facility. At least with the door that was labeled _Heliport Access_ , the young woman was given a rough idea of where they were, having seen the heliport itself, from that observation room back in the main house, but that was a moot point since there was no visible way in.

"What the hell is a _First Class Emergency_?" She asked, reading the sign again. "What, zombies and monsters aren't good enough?"

"Maybe it just means it has to be opened somewhere else." Burton suggested, looking toward the other, smaller door. "Like from some kind of security room or something."

That made sense, given that the whole mansion estate would have had to be organized, fully staffed, and funded, meaning that they would have had a security team as well… strange that none had been seen though… unless they were among that giant underground spider's victims. Either that, or whatever happened in this place gave the important people enough time to escape, while leaving everyone else to suffer like the guy in room 001 who hanged himself.

"Right, so we're not _quite_ done wandering through hell just yet." Redfield added, walking over to the door and turning the latch. "Shall we?"

The metal door opened into what started out looking like a concrete hallway that was just as painfully bright as the first room, but did a sharp curve at the end of the first stretch, turning into a set of stairs that went down. There, just before the stairs, the path split two ways, the first of course was the stairs, but the hallway also continued on around the corner on this level. As much as they wanted to keep the team together, it felt like entire _days_ had passed since they left the RPD, and everyone was getting visibly tired… so tired that there was a danger of collapsing if they didn't get out of there soon.

"I know we have to split up again." Redfield whispered to her. "But how do you want to do this?"

She knew what he meant; the air of suspicion that Marini had passed with his final breath, leading them to believe that _someone_ on the team was a traitor who was trying to get them all killed for… some reason. Wesker and Burton were the obvious suspects, due to the big man's strange behavior ever since walking through the mansion's front doors, and Wesker was just… Wesker. Still, no one was above suspicion, even Chambers… everything from the short haired girl's personality to the way she was handling the stress of this mission made Valentine think she was innocent… unless that was what she was going for.

"Chris, how about you and Rebecca check out this floor?" The young woman asked. "I'll go with Barry and search around downstairs."

Everyone seemed fine with this pairing, hopefully with both Burton and Chambers thinking that it was because they didn't want to leave the women without a man to protect them, or something ridiculous like that… truth was, if one of them was the traitor, maybe they would slip up around someone that they had rapport with… after all, the big man had saved her life, just as the short haired girl had saved Redfield's. The young man seemed to get the idea, giving a subtle nod to her before the teams divided.

So, watching as the young man and Chambers headed around the corner to check out the rest of the hallway, Valentine was hesitant to head downstairs with Burton, but… but if he was the traitor, then why would he have saved her life both with that crusher thing _and_ against Plant 42? Why would Chambers have rushed back to get the serum for Aiken instead of just letting him die? Hopefully as they two of them started down the concrete stairs into the lower level, there would be something inside to shed some light on the matter.

The stairs ended at the start of a corridor that branched right, while also continuing on for a short distance before turning right again, so… was the room a big square? If so, it would make exploring the rooms a lot easier, beginning with the set of double doors to the immediate right. This area was not as brightly lit as the upper level, making it easier to see, but so far there were no visible threats… just the soft _hum_ of the air conditioner as cold air was pumped through the exposed ducts on the high ceiling.

"How are you holding up, Barry?" She asked, trying to act casual as they followed the entire corridor. "Everything all right?"

"It _will_ be once we get the hell out of this place." The big man replied, moving around the next corner with his weapon aimed. "Clear… all right, let's keep moving."

Her initial guess was correct, the corridor on this level was a big square that looped around past two more sets of double doors, one on the interior wall, and one that probably moved on to a whole new section… _man_ , this place was big. After making the complete circle around, and surprisingly finding no zombies, the two of them decided to return to the original strategy of clearing one room at a time before moving on, since the security room they sought could have been behind any one of the doors.

The door to the room on the interior wall was the only one that clearly could not have led into another section of the facility, so they started there, with Burton covering her while she pushed it open. A strong smell of formaldehyde was there to greet her when they stepped into the small room, finding the walls lined with subway tile, a drain in the middle of the floor, and several small tables where… large black bags were laid out… bags that were filled.

"What is this?" The big man asked, moving in for a closer look. "Some kind of _morgue_?"

It had all the equipment; freezers for storing bodies, embalming equipment and chemicals, but most important in this situation was the fact that the bodies had been carefully laid out and placed into the bags… not something that would have been going on during a zombie attack. This could have only meant that the bodies were there _before_ whatever happened to this place back in May.

"Why would this place need a morgue, Barry?" She asked, looking at the date on the closest bag's label. " _May first, cause of death: Kennel Accident_ … wait, so people were dying in this place _before_ all this happened, and no one reported it? Why would they be keeping…

Suddenly the young woman's words turned into a startled gasp, jumping back as the bag suddenly sat up. There was a muffled groan from within, while a hand could be seen pushing against the material from inside, as if trying to find a way out, but then _boom!_ Valentine jumped again when Burton aimed his revolver and pulled the trigger, sending the large round into the head of whatever was inside the bag, making it collapse back onto the table.

Of course, the commotion had attracted the attention of the other bags' occupants, and now they were all sitting up, some pushing against the bags, while one of them actually fell over onto the floor with a loud _thud_. Okay, it was time to go, the young woman thought as the zombies inside the bags became more restless, and she was thankful to get back out into the air that _didn't_ smell like chemicals. Relieved when the muffled groaning was silenced by the closing door, the young woman was more than ready to find something else to look at… just not the 9mm pistol that was filling her vision just as she turned to continue down the hall.

 _Whack!_ The young woman's vision went white for a second as the pistol struck her in the forehead, leaving her lying on the floor by the time it cleared up, and now the sunglasses wearing form of Captain Wesker was now standing over her. Right, it wasn't exactly a big shock to her that he was the traitor, but what Valentine didn't understand was why Burton wasn't reacting to what had just happened, even though the weapon wasn't pointed at him.

"Jill… I must admit that your presence here was… unexpected." The Captain said, suddenly shooting an angry look to the big man. "They weren't supposed to get past the _Black Tiger_ , Barry… what happened?"

"I'm sorry, Wesker." Burton replied sadly. "When they walked into its chamber, I just… I just couldn't let them get eaten by that thing. This doesn't change anything, though, right? You're still gonna get all the data you wanted and everything, so there's no need to do anything rash, right?"

As the throbbing in her head faded away, and the young woman realized that there was not one, but two traitors among STARS, she also noticed that while Wesker looked more irritated than anything, the big man looked like he was nervous or afraid of something. But why would that be if the two of them had been in on this whole thing together? This nervousness didn't stop Burton from picking up her fallen shotgun and slinging it over his shoulder, though… nor did it do anything to stop the Captain from kicking her in the mouth, causing Valentine to spit out some blood as she flopped over onto her stomach.

"Why couldn't you ingrates just _die_ like all the others?" Wesker asked, taking her pistol and putting it into his belt. "Well, don't you worry, you little brat, you're going to be dead soon enough."

Now with his hands free, the Captain grabbed the young woman's wrists and forced them behind her back, pushing them upward until she screamed, and then using her own handcuffs to restrain her, before digging through her pockets. He ignored the ammo that she was carrying, but took Valentine's knife, before roughly pulling the young woman to her feet. Burton had a look of concern on his face, like he _wanted_ to help her, but clearly not enough to stop Wesker from slugging her in the stomach so that she doubled over, and then kicking her in the rear so that she ate the floor once again.

"Barry, this is the _third_ time you've disappointed me tonight." The Captain said calmly. "You screw up on _anything_ else, and someone is going to die screaming, understand? Now take this bitch through that door to the elevator, and wait for me… if she's still alive, I guess that means Chris and Rebecca are as well?"

Burton just hung his head, causing Wesker to scoff in disappointment as he walked away, his footsteps echoing down the corridor while the big man helped her to her feet. At least he didn't hit her like the Captain had done, but instead of freeing her as soon as he was gone like she hoped, Burton started pushing the young woman forward, toward the nearest other door that they had seen.

"Barry, wait, stop… why are you doing this?" Valentine asked, trying to reason with him. "We're your teammates, your friends… this is obviously Wesker's show, but why are you helping him?"

"Because he has my family, Jill." Burton replied quietly. "Enrico was right, this _was_ all planned by Umbrella, and some of their people are in my house _right now_ , just _waiting_ to break my daughters' fingers if I disobey. I'm sorry, Jill, I really am, but I can't sacrifice my children for you… now get moving."


	35. Chapter 35 The T-Virus

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Thirty Five: The T-Virus**

Although Redfield hadn't wanted to let their team split up again, he understood the need for it due to the growing fatigue that everyone was feeling, as well as the growing ammo shortage for their weapons. So, while Valentine and Burton headed down the stairs to investigate the lower level, he and Chambers followed the hallway around the corner… to where a _phone_ was mounted on the wall.

This was the first communication device that any of them had encountered all night, so the young man ran the rest of the way down to the end of the corridor, where it was mounted at the end, and picked up the receiver. Unfortunately there was no dial tone, and this did not change no matter what buttons he pushed, meaning that the only way to contact the outside world that they had seen in hours… was dead.

He imagined that with as desperate as they all were to find a way out of this nightmare, that he would have flown into a rage, and done something to the phone that was similar to that time that _Johnny Cash_ ripped the sink off a bathroom wall. Instead, however, the young man's mouth ran a little dry, with disappointment the only thing he felt as he gently hung the receiver back up.

"It didn't work, did it?" Chambers asked, almost hesitantly. "Nothing at all?"

For a second a flash of anger went across his mind, but with as irritating as that question was, none of this was the short haired girl's fault, and she had been inside this nightmare just as long as he had… technically a few hours _longer_ since she was a member of Bravo Team… and now the _only_ survivor. So he took a deep breath and just shook his head, not saying a word as he turned to face the only doors to be found in the whole hallway.

These remarkably clean metal doors opened easily when Redfield turned the latch, with no squeak at all in the hinges, unlike everywhere else on the estate. The good news, though, was that it wasn't as brightly lit in the large room beyond, although far more lavishly decorated with a solid wood table and big comfortable looking chairs around as if this were some kind of conference room for important types of people. There was also a projector on the table that was aimed at one of those pull down screens like the ones at _Raccoon City High School_.

Only a single light fixture, a really long fluorescent circular bulb, was in place at the center of the ceiling, but its soft white light was enough for them to see the wooden cabinets and decorative items designed to make the place look less cold and inhumane. There was another section of the room, kind of off to the side and built around a corner of the wall so that it was hard to spot, but it was filled with metal racks containing files and folders dated back over the past ten years or so, as well as a bunch of slide containers… also marked with dates.

"Hey, Rebecca, pass me the earliest and latest slide cases, please." Redfield said, pointing to them since she was in the way. "March 1988, and May 1998, those right there."

She passed the containers to him, but elected to stay in the racks to look at some of the files while the young man carried the cases over to the projector, and tried to remember how to use one. It took a few fumbling tries to get the cases open, and even longer to find the power switch, but soon the slides from the first one were installed, the screen was down, and… a lot of boring information about _'Repurposing Spencer Estate'_ was displayed. Apparently Umbrella had spent a lot of money turning the old home of some old guy into a modern facility back in the 80's, but that was boring and not helpful, so he switched to the last dated slides.

 _UMBRELLA PHARMACEUTICAL CORPORATION_

 _WHITE UMBRELLA DIVISION, RACCOON CITY BRANCH_

 _BIO-ORGANIC WEAPON (BOW) UPDATE 9_

Wow, Redfield thought as he read the title slide that had a subdued Umbrella logo in the background, they just spelled out the whole thing like that as if they weren't doing anything wrong. But what in the hell was a BOW? In the Air Force there had been training on biological Weapons such as _Yellow Rain_ from the Cold War, but… was that what Umbrella had been doing out there at the _Spencer Estate_ , as it was called? Were they making some kind of new gas weapon or something?

 _THE T-VIRUS_

 _THE LATEST VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL T SAMPLE HAS BEEN SYNTHESIZED, WITH IMPROVEMENTS TO DEPLOYMENT METHOD, AS WELL AS INCUBATION TIME._

 _IDEALLY, WHEN INTRODUCED INTO A CAPTURED POW, WHO IS THEN RETURNED TO THEIR OWN PEOPLE, THE VIRUS WILL OVERCOME THE HOST ANYWHERE BETWEEN SIX HOURS TO SEVEN DAYS, DEPENDING ON PERSONAL RESISTANCE._

 _HOST WILL THEN ENTER A TRANSITIONAL HIBERNATION OR 'DEATH' STATE, REANIMATING SHORTLY AFTER, AND ELIMINATING THE ENEMY FOR US._

Okay, now the young man had to re-read that one a couple times, as well as at the close up image of a restrained zombie down in the corner, but as many times as he did, he just couldn't wrap his head around how someone would think that a kind of… _Zombie Virus_ would be a good idea. Apparently infecting humans was the original idea, but as he flipped through the slides, he saw that everything else that they had encountered inside of the mansion had been created on purpose.

The deranged dogs were designated as _MA-39 Cerberus_ , the giant shark was called _Fi-3 Neptune_ , and those clawed creatures encountered in the mansion were known as _MA-121 Hunter_. Plant 42 was listed as well, cited to be a _well-contained_ specimen, but the strange part was that the mutated crows and spiders were not listed at all, just something with no image called the _T-002 Tyrant Prototype_ … whatever the hell that was.

Only one slide left now, showing a team of men in white lab coats standing together, with names underneath each one of them. The photograph was labeled R&D Staff, dated March, 1998, consisting of _J. Clemens_ , _M. Crackhorn_ , _S. Thompson_ , _P. Burnham_ , and _A. Wesker_ … wait, what in the fuck? Looking up from the names at the last figure to the right, the young man had to rub his eyes in order to be sure of what he was seeing as he looked at the blond haired, sunglasses wearing Captain of Alpha Team.

"Not a very good picture, I know." A voice said from behind as Redfield felt a gun barrel touch the back of his neck. "Now do me a favor and toss all your weapons over there… slowly."

It was Wesker all right, must've come in while he was focused on the slides, and the sound of his pistol's hammer being pulled back let the young man know that he was serious. So moving slowly and carefully, the young man took his pistol, revolver, and knife, and tossed them across the room so that they made a loud clack-clack as each one hit the floor. However, just after he was throwing the last one, Redfield leaned sideways, looping his arm around to catch the Captain's, and managing to knock his pistol onto the table next to them.

If that picture was true, and judging by Wesker's reaction to it, it was, then not only had their Captain led almost every member of STARS to their deaths, but he had also been one of the men who had created the problem. The Cannibal Murders, those poor cops who were on the first investigation, all of it had come from Umbrella's T-Virus… and Wesker had been helping them to create it for the entire time.

Now filled with rage, Redfield swung his fist right at the Captain's face, but Wesker tilted his head to the side so that it missed, before slamming his knee into the young man's stomach. Stepping behind him and putting Redfield into a sleeper hold, the Captain kicked him in the back of the leg, Wesker twisted him down so that the young man was bent backwards over the table, and then he saw white for a second when the Captain punched him right in the face.

Again and again Wesker slugged him, taking a break just long enough to restrain one of Redfield's wrists with his free hand, and the other by pinning it down to the table under his knee, allowing the punches to resume. Suddenly grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him to his feet, the Captain punched him so hard in the stomach that the young man almost vomited, and then he was forced back down onto the table, this time face first.

"Only _one man_ in the RPD ever beat me in a fist fight, Chris." Wesker said, forcing his wrists behind his back to restrain him, and taking out Redfield's own handcuffs. "You should have spent more time down in Homicide Division with…

"Captain Wesker, stop!" Chambers ordered, startling both men as she came around the corner with pistol aimed. "Let Chris go, and then put your hands on top of your head; you're under arrest for the murder of… of _everyone_!"

Oh, thank God for Chambers, the young man thought, trying to catch his breath. He was still restrained, but he hadn't bene handcuffed yet, meaning that as soon as the short haired girl got the Captain to back off, he would be able to take him into custody. A fat lot of good that would do for the moment, though, at least not until they managed to signal Vickers in the helicopter… but hey, Wesker must have had an escape plan for when all this was over… so they would just have to ask him… _painfully_.

"I said you're under arrest!" Chambers said, squeaking a bit as she tried to be more intimidating. "Now let him go, and move over there; hands on your head!"

"Very good, Officer Chambers, very good." The Captain replied, smirking a bit. "But how are you going to stop me from doing _anything_ at all, if you've got the _safety_ on?"

Gasping as she turned the pistol to check, the short haired girl was left completely defenseless as Wesker picked up his pistol from the table, and started shooting. Bang! Bang! Chambers cried out as his bullets tore into her right shoulder and left leg, making her collapse to the floor as her pistol slid away, but she was still trying to reach the grenade launcher, forcing the Captain to let go of the young man.

Running around the table and kicking the large weapon out of her hands just as she was sitting up to aim at him, Wesker brought his pistol down onto Chambers' head with a loud whack! She went down, this time not moving, and the Captain was aiming to shoot her in the back of the head, when Redfield, who had managed to get up, tackled him. Again the pistol went sliding across the floor as he rammed Wesker into the wall, but the Captain head-butted him, before grabbing the young man's wrist and spinning around so that Redfield landed on his back after being flipped over.

"Now you hold still a minute." Wesker said, holding the young man's arm so that he couldn't move, while taking out his own handcuffs. "I'd hate to have to break your arm, Chris."

With nothing to stop him this time, the Captain was able to get Redfield's wrists handcuffed behind his back after only another small struggle, as well as Chambers, who had only just started to wake up, when she found herself being handcuffed as well, before crying out when Wesker kicked her in the mouth. Adjusting his sunglasses, which somehow hadn't broken during all that, the Captain casually collected up their weapons, just kind of smiling as he came back over to his prisoners.


	36. Chapter 36 Wesker's Plan

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Thirty Six: Wesker's Plan**

The forced march that Valentine found herself on didn't last as long as she imagined, simply being pushed through that other door that had been closest to the morgue, and into another section of corridor that branched off in two different directions. Off to the left was a darkened metal grated door, which the young woman assumed was the elevator that Wesker had mentioned, while to the right was a heavier door, solid metal, with an emblem of a red circle and lightning bolt painted on the concrete floor in front of it.

However, instead of taking either of these options, Valentine was pushed straight forward, toward a smaller door where the junction hit a dead end. Burton turned the knob, pushing open the door into what looked like some kind of staff kitchen or break room, with its sink, counters, and refrigerator, all illuminated by a couple of table lamps. This was good, since the main lights didn't come on when the big man flipped the switch, leaving the place in a dim yellow glow.

"All right, just sit down, and don't move." He said, almost sadly while pushing her into one of the metal chairs surrounding the small round table. "I'm going to do everything I can to convince Wesker to spare you, but you need to behave, okay?"

"You think he's going to let me live after all this?" Valentine asked, fidgeting around in her chair. "Barry, look how many of our friends he killed… I know your family is in danger, but do you really think he won't kill _you_ just as soon as he's done with the rest of us?"

She could tell just by looking at him that he wanted to help, but with the threat of people from Umbrella, the same people who had allowed all this to happen to their own employees along with the people of the Arklay Mountains, ready to start torturing his wife and children… there really wasn't much that the big man could do. Still, there had to be a way… some way to get Burton to see reason.

"Barry, what if we overpower Wesker together when he comes in?" She suggested, continuing to move around as if uncomfortable. "He's responsible for all this, no one has to know that he forced you to help, and then we can use him to get your family released."

"Look, Jill, I'm sorry, I really am." Burton replied, his voice breaking a little. "But do you think that a man smart enough to lure us here and set this whole thing up, wouldn't have a plan for if we turned on him? This is my _family_ we're talking about… I've seen what happens to men who lose theirs, and… I'm sorry."

Well, in that case, the young woman was sorry as well, at least for what she was about to do to him. See, the whole time that they had been sitting there, waiting patiently for the Captain to return, Valentine hadn't been moving around because she was uncomfortable… but because she was using the lock picking tool hidden up her sleeve to undo her handcuffs. The locks were simply enough, it was just a bit hard to reach… until they were finally both undone.

Rubbing her wrists behind her back, the young woman waited patiently for the right moment, which came about a minute later when her captor looked away for a moment, just long enough to stretch his neck, but it was long enough. Jumping to her feet, and grabbing the lamp off the table, she swung it at the startled man, reducing the amount of light in the room by about a third as the object shattered across Burton's face, nearly making him fall over.

It was enough, though… enough for her to grab the magnum revolver, and aim it at him after pushing Burton the rest of the way down to the floor… but then she got a surprise of her own when he took out his backup pistol, and had it aimed right back at her only an instant after he hit the floor. She had known that the shotgun slung over his shoulder would be useless as long as she got the revolver, but Valentine had forgotten all about his 9mm backup weapon, and now they were at a stalemate.

"God damn it, Barry, he's gonna kill _both of us_!" She exclaimed, trying to keep the heavier weapon aimed. "Don't make me shoot you."

"You don't have children, Jill, I don't expect you to understand." The big man replied, sitting up a little more. "But you'll understand _this_ : Without the hammer pulled back, my revolver's trigger is a lot harder to pull than this Beretta, so if I so much as see your finger starting to move, I'm gonna let you have it."

Crap, he was right, but what was the young woman supposed to do, surrender and get killed like all the others, while Wesker got away with… whatever the hell he was doing there? Not a chance, but… what was she going to do if she couldn't pull the trigger in time or even pull the weapon's hammer back? Suddenly the stalemate was ended when a lot more light filled the room due to the door being opened, and her eyes hadn't even adjusted yet before the revolver was knocked out of her hands.

She had waited too long, Wesker had come back, and now she felt his knee going into her stomach, before he kicked her in the rear hard enough to make her fall on her face out in the hallway. There was no way that the young woman was going to be able to win against both of them, but maybe she could escape… yeah, she could run away and find Redfield and Chambers… or maybe not, since she had only gotten up to her hands and knees, while the Captain was already coming back out into the corridor.

"You had _one_ simple job, Barry." He said, watching as Valentine slowly pulled herself up. "How am I supposed to trust you with all these secrets, if you can't even keep control over one little _girl_?"

"Wesker, you piece of shit." The young woman replied, now standing up. "You can berate Barry all you want, but you know he'd crush you if you didn't have people holding his children. What the hell kind of man does that, anyway? The kind with a tiny…

Her words became a startled gasp when the Captain suddenly punched her in the throat, completely cutting off her air supply, and causing her to fall to her knees, hands on her neck as she tried and tried to take in a breath. Barely anything came in, though, and soon tears were running down her cheeks. This was only temporary, but hurt like hell, and a simple rule of combat was that when someone can't breathe, they can't fight, making it easy for Wesker to give her a hard uppercut to the chin that knocked her on her back.

"You're lucky that I'm on a strict deadline, you little _brat_." The Captain seethed, grabbing her by the hair and painfully yanking her up to her feet. "Or else I'd _show_ you just how _tiny_ I am."

Twisting one of her arms behind her back and pushing it upward as far as it would go, Wesker kept his grip on her hair, pulling her head back as far as it would go, so that the young woman was in as much pain as possible as they started walking. At least Valentine could breathe again, but that didn't do her much good, since her captor was holding her so that she was completely immobilized.

"Barry, make yourself useful, and push the button for me." He called when they were in front of the elevator. "And then go up to the conference room and keep an eye on Chris and Rebecca… I've got them handcuffed to the table so they can't move… or is that too much for you to handle, too?"

Burton slowly walked over to them, and gave a kind of helpless look to her before pressing the elevator button… hanging his head and walking back toward the other corridor on this level. A few seconds later the big man was gone, off to do more of the Captain's bidding, and leaving the young woman alone with him as the cables inside of the elevator shaft started to move, bringing the car upward.

"Wesker, why are you doing all this?" She asked with pain in her voice. "What's the point of killing everyone in STARS?"

"Because there was a little accident here a few months ago." He replied as the car reached the top of the shaft. "Umbrella's experimental _T-Virus_ escaped containment, and now that all useful field data has been collected, it's time to destroy all the evidence of everything that happened here… now _move_."

As soon as the elevator car stopped moving and the doors opened, Wesker shoved Valentine forward, and then pinned her up against the side wall so that he could use one had to push the down button. The doors closed a second later, and the elevator vibrated a little as it started down. Just how many sub-levels did this estate have, she wondered? And more importantly, why was the Captain taking her down there?

"Destroying STARS is _Umbrella's_ intention." He continued, grabbing her hair again to restrain her. "It was hoped that after that first investigation last spring, everything would be forgotten… but then the accident happened, and the Mayor got all uppity… so it was decided to simply _kill_ all of you, and destroy this place to hide any evidence of Umbrella's wrongdoing."

"So you're just the _cleanup boy_ , is that it?" Valentine asked as the car came to a stop. "Just another slave to Umbrella, like all these… _things_? I can forgive Barry because his family is in danger, but you're nothing but a God damn…

 _Bash!_ Suddenly pulling her to the side, and then slamming the young woman's head into the wall, her words were stopped just as the elevator door opened, Wesker kicked her legs out from under her, and then started kicking Valentine in the stomach as soon as she had fallen down. He kicked her in the stomach, ribs, and chest about a dozen times until she was no longer able to move, but then the young woman screamed when he grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her out of the elevator car.

"There's no one holding Barry's family, you fucking moron." He explained while dragging her down this sterile white hallway. "I played him an audio recording I made from the home invasion scene in _Deathwish_ , and like any stupid, concerned parent, he bought it. And as for being Umbrella's cleanup boy, I'm not retrieving _anything_ for them. I'm keeping all the data for _myself_."

Shit, it was too late for her to be able to tell Burton that his family wasn't in danger after all, and now the big man was just going to be sitting there watching Redfield and Chambers, all the while thinking that some Umbrella goons were ready to kill his daughters. But no, it was just Wesker… it was all him from the very start. Dewey, Frost, Sullivan, Speyer, Aiken, and Marini were all dead because of this selfish asshole, and… and if she wasn't careful, the rest of them were going to follow.

There was absolutely nothing inside this corridor, just a long stretch over to a fancy looking metal door that had a card reader next to it, and not surprisingly the Captain had one around his neck. Taking the car off, and sliding it across the reader, the red indicator light above the door turned green while a sharp _beep_ was heard, and then there was a hard _thud_ as the internal locks were heard disengaging. Whatever was behind that door, it must have been pretty damn important.

"I have some _good news_ for you, Jill." Wesker said, putting the card back around his neck. "You wanted to know what this is all about, you nosey little brat? Fine, then… I'm going to show you the _Tyrant_."


	37. Chapter 37 Breaking the Bonds

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Thirty Seven: Breaking the Bonds**

"Rebecca?" Redfield asked, still plenty of pain in his voice. "Rebecca, are you all right?"

He must have lost consciousness after the horrific beating that he had received from the man who was _supposed_ to be their leader, because the young man didn't remember being handcuffed, let alone on the floor with his wrists bound to a table leg behind his back. The short haired girl was there as well, bound in the same way, but positioned so that they were back to back, making it difficult to see her, no matter how far Redfield tried to turn his neck.

"I'm here." Chambers finally groaned, shaking a bit from her wounds. "Oh God, this hurts… can you… can you get us free?"

Unfortunately, this was not just _any_ table that they were bound to, though… the legs were bolted to the floor, so lifting the whole thing up was out of the question, as was trying to break the table apart, apparently, since no matter how hard the young man kicked or pulled against the leg, neither it, nor the table itself would break. What was this, made out of the same stuff as the reinforced doors that couldn't be broken through?

Even if he could have broken the table with his brute strength, this undertaking was made a lot more difficult by the cries of agony that the short haired girl let out any time that these efforts forced him to touch her arm or leg in any way… yeah, that was a poor excuse, Redfield just wasn't strong enough to break them out, and he knew it. Of course, if they somehow managed to get out of this, he was going to have to have Valentine teach him how to pick locks.

"What the _hell_ is this table made of?!" He yelled in frustration after failing once again to get them free. "Cast iron?!"

"Chris… Chris, I don't feel so good." Chambers said, her voice starting to sound a little weak. "I think… I think I'm going into shock."

Oh shit, the young man thought as he pulled against the handcuffs unsuccessfully, now Redfield wasn't anything close to a doctor, but from his first aid training in the Air Force, he knew that someone going into shock was bad news… God damn it, why did Wesker have to shoot the poor girl? Okay, no time for that, stay focused… gotta get her feet elevated, and keep her warm… of course, none of that mattered if he couldn't get himself… hey, wait a second.

For a moment during the struggles, his hand brushed over the bolts that held the table down… but they didn't feel like _bolts_ at all. No, the heads were rounded, and there was a slit-shaped indentation… ha, instead of bolts to hold down the furniture, someone in this place had gone the cheaper route and used self-tappers instead. Normally after being beaten and shackled, there would be no hope, but there was one item in his pocket that the Captain hadn't taken away… his _quarter_.

Yes, the coin that had been helping the young man make decisions all night long, was about to become the only thing that could save their lives. It was a bit of a struggle to reach into his nearest pocket, groaning, and twisting around like a gymnast until finally getting his fingers around the silver object, and then carefully… _carefully_ maneuvering it down into the slit on the first self-tapper.

This next part was even more difficult, since he had to twist the coin around without dropping it, but very slowly the screw loosened, and after gasping when he almost dropped it, Redfield sighed with relief when the first of the two screws fell out onto the floor. Twisting around again, and apologizing when this caused him to bump the bullet wound on Chambers' leg, the young man worked on this screw the same way as the first until finally… _finally_ … it fell out onto the floor like the first one.

Now that there was nothing holding down this leg of the table, the young man shifted onto his back in order to lift up the table with his feet, allowing him to pull his handcuffs under the leg, giving him some mobility. Of course, with his hands still bound behind his back, there wasn't a lot Redfield could do for the wounded Chambers… but then he saw it. There, behind one of the chairs, in the shadow where it was hard to see, was a pistol.

It must have fallen there during the fight, and been forgotten when Wesker was collecting up their weapons. The Captain must have believed that there was no way for the two of them to get free from the table, or else he would've searched the room more carefully before leaving, and now this weapon was his only hope of getting out of the handcuffs, since he no longer had a key. Admittedly, the idea that popped into the young man's head was a stupid one… stupid and dangerous, but as he kind of rolled to his feet, and started toward the pistol, there didn't seem to be any other options.

"Chris, what are you doing?" Chambers asked, her voice getting shakier as he picked up the weapon behind his back. "How is that going to help us right now?"

"Just relax, Rebecca… and elevate your legs if you can." He replied, using the table to help hold the pistol in place while he put the handcuff chain over the barrel. "Okay… just a little more… okay."

 _Bang!_ The bullet bounced once off the nearby wall, smashing one of the decorative vases, but the chain was broken, allowing the young man to move his arms freely once again… before noticing the burning pain coming from his rear. Feeling his hand around behind himself, Redfield realized that, after finding the long thin rip across his pants, that while the bullet had done its job, it had also painfully grazed him… he had effectively shot himself in the ass.

Its okay, he thought, limping a little as he rushed over to the short haired girl, Chambers didn't see him shoot himself, and there was no one else around to back up her story even if she did. After all, the last thing he needed if they ever made it back to the RPD was for it to get out that Redfield, the winner of every shooting competition since joining the force, had shot himself in the ass. This really wasn't the time to worry about that, though, since Chambers needed help.

Getting her handcuffs out from under the table leg was easy enough, as was shooting the chain that held them together, but now he had to find a first aid kit or something. Come on, the young man thought as he looked around the room, this was the conference room of a big, secret facility, there had to be something around… or he could just do the more obvious thing and use the stuff that she was carrying in her pouches… being that Chambers _was_ the medic, and all.

"Chris, you have to get the bullets out first." She explained, her head swimming a little when he rolled her onto her back. "My arms and legs are pretty small, so finding the bullets shouldn't be too hard, but you'll need…

"Actually, I can see exit wounds on both." He interrupted, sighing with relief that he wouldn't have to cause her any more pain. "So now do I just use the bandages?"

Unfortunately, no, that was not all, since the bullet wounds were fairly large, meaning that they would have to be sutured. The short haired girl was doing her best to give him instructions, and the young man tried his best, while deciding not to tell her that he usually had trouble even putting a Band-Aid on his finger. So he disinfected the wounds on her arm and leg, and did the best he could to sew it closed… even though she was going to have a weird looking scar because of how non-uniform the stitches were.

Well, at least she wasn't bleeding anymore, and with a wrap of a few bandages the treatment was all done, followed by taking off his jacket since it was the only thing around that would help keep Chambers warm if she really _was_ going into shock. However, luckily this didn't seem to be the case, since she started to feel and look a little better after Redfield gave her a dose of the Morphine that was inside of her emergency case… okay, _maybe_ it was two doses.

"Come on, we can't stay here." Redfield said, reaching down to pick her up. "I need to get you someplace safe, so I can go find Jill before Wesker does."

It was a good thing that the short haired girl was so light, since between the fatigue from this mission, the nearly unbelievable beating that he had gotten from the Captain, and the, uh… wound to his behind, the young man didn't know if he could handle lifting anything that weighed more than she did. Of course, the location of a safe place… well, that was going to be a little tricky. After all, where in the hell in this _entire_ estate was considered safe?

The only thing Redfield could think of, even though he didn't like it at all, was to take her back to this facility's entrance, and hope that Wesker didn't discover her there before he and Valentine could deal with him. There was also the matter of something coming up the ladder that led back down into the underground cave. What if a zombie or one of those clawed creatures followed them this far? Well, the only solution he could think of was to close the trap door, put the latch back into place, and set Chambers onto it for added weight.

"Rebecca, I'm going to leave the pistol with you, okay?" He said, handing it to her. "I'm pretty sure I can avoid Wesker now that I know he's the enemy, but… but if the door opens, and it's him, then… then shoot him in the chest until your clip runs out."

"But what about _you_?" She asked, hesitant to take the weapon. "Chris, what if you run into a zombie, or another monster?"

Yes, that would be pretty bad if he ran into something like those clawed creatures while unarmed, but there was no way he was going to leave Chambers defenseless. So after insisting that she keep the weapon, and her finally giving in, the young man went back through the small door in order to find Valentine and Burton as fast as humanly possible… before Wesker did the same thing to _them_.


	38. Chapter 38 The Tyrant

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Thirty Eight: The Tyrant**

Valentine couldn't help continually crying out in pain as she was dragged through the security door, and pulled across remarkably shiny floor of some kind of laboratory. All along the walls there was expensive looking monitoring equipment, as well as control panels with indicator lights and buttons that were blinking in random patterns. Several glass storage tubes were standing in neat rows at the center of the room, but although each one was empty, they were all far bigger and taller than what was needed to hold a person.

Like the rest of the facility, this place was incredibly brightly lit, but so pristine that it looked like no one had been inside since before everything went to hell in this place. Of course, the floor wasn't looking so shiny now that the young woman's boots were scuffing it up, but what else could have been expected while she was being dragged around by the hair? For a moment there was relief when Wesker let go of her hair once they reached the far end of the room, but then it returned when the Captain pulled her to her feet.

Backhanding her across the face when she tried to fight back, Valentine was left dazed for a second, but it was long enough for him to twist her arm behind her back and shove her forward so that the young woman's face was pressed up against some really thick glass, and… and what in the living _fuck_ was _that_?! It was another of the storage tubes set against the back wall, but unlike the others, this one was _definitely_ not empty.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Wesker asked, grabbing her hair again to make her look more closely at the occupant. "Nothing to say for once, Jill? Fine then, just stand there in awe at the ultimate biological weapon… _Tyrant_."

It stood higher than a man, almost eight feet tall if she had to guess, but also stocky and muscular, with its pale-white skin just a tiny bit blurred by the fluid that filled the tank. No hair at all, nor lips, or even genitals, this… abomination just stood there motionless, except for the slow beating of its gigantic, exposed heart… as well as a slight, random twitching every now and then from the insanely large set of claws that was mounted onto its torso where the left arm should have been.

"That's right, Jill, I'm taking the data, the refined T-Virus sample, and the Tyrant prototype." The Captain explained. "And then I'm going to sell all of these secrets to the highest bidder, and then Umbrella will _see_ which of us _needs_ the other… but first you and your friends have to die."

Pulling her away from the glass, Wesker suddenly rammed her face back into it, before kicking her in the back of the leg so that Valentine had to kneel down, and finally looping his arm around her neck in a kind of sleeper hold. The way he had done it, her arms were trapped above her head, and the Captain's grip just got tighter until the young woman's vision was starting to darken until…

 _Boom!_ Wesker's grip on her neck was released when a large caliber bullet struck him in the back, forcing the Captain to stumble sideways where he fell against the largest control panel in the room… but it wasn't quite enough to stop him from reaching for his own pistol. Boom! The second shot, which Valentine saw came from Burton as he pulled the trigger of his magnum revolver, slammed into Wesker's chest, lifting the man off his feet, where he crashed down right on top of the control panel… and didn't move.

"B… Barry!" Valentine exclaimed between coughing. "You… came back!"

"I couldn't let him hurt any more of my friends, Jill." The big man answered, clearly having mixed feelings about what he had done. "Come on, we have to find a way out of here before he misses a check in time or something!"

It took the young woman a couple attempts, mostly due to the coughing as she crawled across the floor toward him, but she eventually was able to tell Burton the truth; that no one was holding his family hostage… it was just _him_ … the man who had been supposed to be their leader, who was now… holy shit, Wesker was still moving, and now he was reaching for his pistol and… no, he wasn't after the pistol… he was pushing buttons on the _control panel_!

The big man ran over to it, and pulled the Captain away from the buttons so that he fell to the floor in a bleeding heap, but apparently the damage had already been done. With a sharp _beep_ of the control panel, the amber colored indicator light above the Tyrant's storage tank turned green, and then there was a gurgling sound as the water inside the tank began to drain out. Valentine's eyes were fixed on the tank as the last of the water vanished, and the monster's heart began to beat faster.

"Barry, I think… I think it's waking up!" The young woman exclaimed, frantically searching the control panel. "Where is it?! There's gotta be an _emergency stop_ , or an _override_ , or something"!

Both of them started searching the control panel, finally resorting to pressing random buttons, but it seemed that nothing could stop the process once it was started… and then the monster's heavily glazed over eyes opened. For a moment it just looked around as if confused, but then punched the reinforced glass so hard that some cracks formed around the impact mark. The angry roar that followed was muffled by the glass, and as the two of them started backing away toward the door, Valentine was just noticing that Wesker was gone and…

 _SMASH!_ With a swing of its massive claws, the glass was exploded outward, raining down onto the floor as the Tyrant took its first step out of the storage tank. _Thump… thump… thump_ , the monster's slow, deliberate footsteps made the floor vibrate as Valentine and Burton backed away, and it was just starting to raise its large claw when the big man aimed his magnum revolver.

 _Boom!_ The first shot struck the monster in its most obvious target, it's exposed, oversized heart, but although the large caliber bullet made Tyrant stumble back a couple steps, there was no significant damage that they could see. _Boom!_ The second shot slammed into the center of the monster's chest, again making it stumble backwards, but only temporarily delaying it from resuming that same slow, deliberate approach. _Boom!_ The third shot struck it right between the eyes, rocking the monster's head back so violently that it was knocked off its feet, shattering one of the central holding tanks as it crashed right through on the way down to the floor.

"Run!" Valentine yelled, grabbing Burton's arm when Tyrant started to get up almost immediately. "Come on, Barry, _run_!"

In this particular instance, it seemed that Wesker had the right idea, running away from the monster, with his blood trail leading out of the lab and back down the hall to the elevator. Thankfully, the security door closed and locked behind them, hopefully giving them time to get up the elevator, but the young woman's heart nearly stopped when they reached the shaft, only to find that the car was not there.

The Captain must have already taken the elevator up, so Valentine had to push the button and wait for it to return… which normally wouldn't have been so bad… if Tyrant wasn't already roaring and putting dents into the heavy metal security door. The elevator's cables were starting to move now, which was great since the car would be down there in a matter of seconds, but not so great when the door to the laboratory flew off its hinges with a loud _crash!_

"God damn this thing!" Burton yelled, passing the young woman her pistol and shotgun. "At least its slow moving, so maybe we won't even…

Suddenly the monster stopped moving, crouched down, and then sprinted, moving down the hall toward them with greater speed than should have been possible. _Boom!_ Startled by this sudden burst of speed, the big man aimed his revolver and fired the last round in the cylinder, sending the bullet right into Tyrant's knee, knocking it off balance. With another roar that sounded almost like surprise, the monster did a kind of sideways dive, its claw making a long trail as it easily tore through the wall's material before falling on its face.

As before, Tyrant began to get up almost immediately after falling down, as if all of Burton's bullets had done nothing at all, but at least the fall had given the elevator car time to reach them. Rushing inside and pushing the button as fast as she could, the young woman's heart was about to bust right out of her chest as the monster slowly got to its feet, but then the elevator's door closed, and it started moving up.

More of Wesker's blood was inside, but at the moment Valentine didn't really care about the Captain, as she was more concerned with how the hell they were going to get out of this nightmare, especially with something like the _Tyrant_ after them now. Okay, the good news… the elevator had gotten there on time, as far as she knew, Redfield and Chambers were still alive, and there didn't seem to be any other ways up from that lowest level except for the elevator… okay, so it was pretty obvious what had to be done.

Once the car reached the top of the shaft, and the two of them got out, the young woman took out her water canteen, and set it on the door's track right where it was going to close, so that if the elevator tried to go down again, it couldn't since the door was still open. She didn't know, nor did she care if the monster was smart enough to use the elevator button, but there was no reason not to be careful.

"Okay, I think that's gonna work." She said, still trying to catch her breath while the door tried, and failed to close. "All right, let's keep going… we have to find the others and get out of here before something else…

Suddenly both of them jumped as an ear-splitting alarm started to sound throughout the facility, blasting and echoing throughout the halls and corridors, while the bright white lights of the place went out, quickly replaced with different lights that were a more subdued red color, denoting some kind of emergency. There was still some white, though, coming from flashers mounted on the corners of the ceiling, while a female voice started to be heard.

" _The Self Destruct System has been activated_." The voice announced calmly. " _All personnel must evacuate immediately. Repeat, the Self Destruct System has been activated… this is a First Class Emergency… deactivating and releasing all locks_."


	39. Chapter 39 A Miserable Death

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Thirty Nine: A Miserable Death**

As much as Redfield hated to leave Chambers there all alone, the entrance to this part of the Spencer Estate was the safest place that he could find on such short notice, but hopefully he wouldn't have to be gone for too long. Now heading back into the facility, and down the stairwell where Valentine and Burton had gone, the young man opened the first door that he came to, but only found it to be some kind of locker room.

Nothing in there but staff lockers, and a few toilets… and nothing but some white coats and protective boots inside the lockers themselves. Leaving that room behind, Redfield circled around the corridor, making a full circle around the area, taking his time and being as careful as possible, since for the moment he was unarmed. There was a morgue with nothing but some writhing body bags, but no sign of his teammates, so he continued on through the next door, opening it just a crack… just in time to see someone run past at the next junction.

He hadn't been able to see who it was however, but whoever it was, it was discovered that they were bleeding, when he reached the junction. There was another way to go, but if it was one of his friends who was wounded, or even Wesker, then the young man had to follow, turning toward the direction where the blood trail led… a rather sturdy looking door, with a traditional _Power_ emblem painted on the floor right in front of it.

Redfield's first instinct was to rush through the power door, and assist whoever it was, since it could have been Valentine or Burton who had been wounded, but at the same time it could have been the Captain as well, so the young man kept to his more stealthy approach of waiting for them to get a little ahead before quietly following. The good news was that there was enough background noise in the next room, an industrial looking place with metal walls and loudly running machinery, that his movements were drowned out.

This place was radically different than the rest of the facility, with metal covering even the floors and ceiling, while steam was vented from some of the nearby drive motors, and all of the lights were single bulbs cages… kind of like down in the underground cave system. The less intense yellow light was a welcome change from the almost blinding ones out in the corridor, but there was no sign of the person he had seen running… only a blood trail that headed deeper into the power rooms.

Ducking down to stay out of sight, Redfield kept up against the machines as he followed the trail, taking a moment to peek around each corner before risking a move out in the open, but so far there were no dangers waiting for him. No zombies, none of those clawed creatures, just the blood trail that seemed like it would never end… until it brought him through yet another door, into a slightly darker part of the power rooms, where there was a rather large monitoring station just… set into the middle of everything, where…

Gasping and ducking down as soon as he saw movement, the young man stayed down behind one of the smaller machines for a few seconds to make sure that he hadn't been spotted. No, of course it hadn't been Valentine or Burton that he followed, but Wesker… although the Captain didn't look too good all of a sudden. He was bleeding, for one, from his front _and_ his back by the looks of it… huh, maybe Burton had fought back during the latest ambush, and Wesker hadn't liked the results.

He hoped that the others were okay, but right now the only thing the young man was able to focus on was Wesker, and… whatever he was doing with the rearmost control panel. Whatever it was, it must have been pretty important to the Captain, because he was so distracted by it, that he had left Chambers' grenade launcher lying on top of it, just out of reach. Wesker was still wearing the magnum revolver and stolen pistols, but if Redfield could be stealthy enough… and careful enough…

The Captain was coughing up blood, wiping his mouth while continuing to work the buttons and levers of the control panel, all the while the young man crawled on his belly, using all the background noise as a buffer to keep his presence hidden… closer… closer… the weapon was just about in reach… then making a daring move, Redfield jumped up, grabbed the launcher, and aimed at the Captain.

"Hold it right there, Wesker!" He yelled, his voice partially muffled by all the machines. "Step away from the controls, toss your weapons over here, and get on your God damn knees!"

The Captain had been visible startled by his sudden appearance, probably distracted by his wounds as well as whatever the task was that he was trying to accomplish, and it looked like he was going to say something, but instead pointed back the way they came, as if something was creeping up behind. Bang! Redfield had only turned back to look for an instant, when Wesker drew his pistol and pulled the trigger, with the grenade launcher taking the hit instead of his stomach… and being knocked out of his hands.

"You ignorant fuck!" The Captain yelled over the sound, lots of pain and anger in his voice. "I can't believe you fell for that old trick… now shut your mouth while I finish this!"

Now that the pistol was aimed at him, there was nothing the young man could do except stand there like an idiot while Wesker finished pushing the buttons. Once he was done, some of the other machines started to power up, causing even more noise as if something was being charged. Then a distant alarm was heard sounding, mostly muffled under the noise like everything else, but not the voice that seemed to speak from the console.

" _The Self Destruct System has been activated_." The voice announced calmly. " _All personnel must evacuate immediately. Repeat, the Self Destruct System has been activated… this is a First Class Emergency… deactivating and releasing all locks_."

Wait, was that for real? Was Wesker really so crazy that he was planning on blowing them all up to cover his tracks? Apparently so, given the pained smile on his face as the Captain turned toward him, taking his time aiming his pistol for the kill shot… while something moved from above. Yes, there was something moving on the wall, something black and shiny crawling out of an open duct… a strange creature that the young man had never seen before… with spines and hooks covering its insect-like body as it moved toward Wesker.

"How big of an idiot do you think I am, Chris?!" The Captain called over the noise. "You must be pretty desperate to use the same trick that I just did, but there's no way out for you… _any_ of you! You're going to die right now, and then I'm going to…

His words became a startled scream that was quickly cut off as the crawling, insectoid creature sunk its long, clawed arms into Wesker's back from behind, and lifting him up off the floor. Holding him there while repeatedly stabbing him with two of its hind legs, the Captain soon stopped moving, but not before his weapons fell to the ground. Taking advantage of the moment, the young man recovered the grenade launcher, the magnum, and his pistol… just in time for the insect monster to discard the Captain's impaled body.

What an awful, miserable death, Redfield thought as Wesker's body vanished behind some large steam pipes, and then he backed away when the insect's compound eyes turned toward him. Suddenly dropping to the floor, and running toward him with its hooked arms raised like the spider had done in the staff house, it was a sudden burst of vented steam that saved the young man's life, distracting and disorienting the monster when it was shot right into its face.

 _Boom!_ Aiming the magnum and firing it with one hand, there was so much kick that he nearly dropped the weapon, but his aim had been good. Struck right in the chest, the insect monster was sent flying backwards, off-colored yellow muck pouring out while the thing flailed around on its back like a dying cockroach for a few seconds… while another one of the creatures began to emerge from the duct.

No, this was not where he wanted to be, so with no more reason for staying there, Redfield turned and ran, hoping to lose the creatures by sprinting back out of the power rooms, and through the door… which was a lot closer than he thought, well… with sprinting versus trying to sneak around. So far the other insect creature wasn't following him, so Redfield shouldered the door open, and then slammed it shut again after he was through… turning around and gasping to see down the barrels of a pair of firearms.

"Chris?!" Valentine exclaimed once she realized it was him. "Oh, thank God, you're alive… Wesker's around here, and he's…

"Wesker's dead, Jill." He interrupted, looking around at the red light and white flashers. "One of those monsters got him back there, and… come on, we gotta get Rebecca!"

This part of the facility looked a lot different now that everything was illuminated by red lights, and the ear-splitting alarm was even worse than the background noise from all the machines in the power rooms as the three of them ran back down the corridors, and up the stairs to the facility entrance, where he had left Chambers. At first the young man was terrified to discover that she was not where he had left her, but then Burton allowed the door to close, revealing that the short haired girl was standing behind it.

"Oh, thank God!" Chambers exclaimed, trying to lean on her good leg as much as possible. "I was worried you guys were Wesker… something happened to the door over there a second ago, it… it made a noise."

That noise, thankfully, had been the sound of the emergency locks being relieved, just like the voice had announced when the alarms started going off. Everyone was quiet as Burton grabbed onto the latch, hoping and praying that it would really open, and let them get to the heliport… and with a turn of the latch, it _did_. Chambers couldn't walk very fast, so Redfield simply picked her up and carried her down the long corridor that followed, with the big man leading the way, and Valentine bringing up the rear.

The corridor was kind of narrow, and dimly lit because of the red lights and lack of flashers, but a few turns and a couple of short staircases later the four of them reached another door. The smell of fresh air was waiting for them as they stepped outside onto the concrete platform with a giant letter H painted in yellow across the whole thing with a circle around it, and as the young man kicked the door closed behind them, he realized two more things… first that it was no longer raining, and that the first rays of sunlight were peaking over the horizon.

"Okay, great, we made it here." Burton said as he looked around. "But what the hell do we do now?"

" _STARS Alpha Team… Bravo Team, I don't give a damn which one_!" The voice of Brad Vickers was heard from the helicopter's loudspeaker. " _I'm running out of fuel! I don't care how you do it, but you better give me a sign right the hell now, or I'm gonna have to head back_!"

"How does he not see this heliport here?!" Chambers demanded angrily as Redfield set her down. "He's only been circling around up there all night!"

"Come on, we gotta find a way to signal him!" The young man added urgently. "This _is_ a heliport, right? So there's gotta be smoke grenades, or road flares or something, right? Find one!"

Splitting up, all of them searched around, but it was Valentine who discovered their salvation inside of a wall-mounted first aid box. It was a flare gun, and with shaky hands at the thought of finally getting out of this nightmare, she loaded a cartridge and fired it up into the air, where it exploded in a brilliant flash of red and yellow… but instead of hearing the approach of a helicopter's rotors, it was an awful, ungodly roar that reached the young man's ears… right before the biggest, most terrifying thing that Redfield had ever seen, broke the heliport door off its hinges.


	40. Chapter 40 The Ultimate Bio Weapon

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Forty: The Ultimate Bio Weapon**

The rainstorm had passed, allowing the first rays of orange sunlight to pass through the clearing sky to begin illuminating the Arklay Mountains. In the midst of all this, the approaching rotors of a helicopter could be heard, along with the angry growl of the monster that Wesker had described as the ultimate bio weapon, as it slowly walked through the door onto the heliport. Just as the shadow of the helicopter was starting to glide across the concrete, the cowardly pilot inside must have gotten a good look at Tyrant, because he suddenly stopped and turned around, moving away from the heliport.

"God damn it, Brad, you piece of shit!" Redfield yelled, helping Chambers to lean against the nearby wall, before readying the grenade launcher. "If we get out of this, I'm gonna kick that guy's balls up into his mouth!"

 _Fwoosh-boom!_ The young man took a shot at the monster, hitting it square in the chest with a grenade shell, but even when the abomination stumbled backwards from the small explosion, Valentine knew that this thing wouldn't go down so easily. So she joined in, having to get a little closer to the monster in order for the last few shells in her shotgun to be effective, with each one driving Tyrant back a little until the weapon clicked empty.

She hadn't believed that this attack would stop the monster, but instead keep it from moving long enough for everyone else to get their own weapons reloaded. Fwoosh-boom! Once the young woman got out of the way, Redfield fired another grenade shell, this time knocking the monster down when it was struck in the face. Falling hard onto its back, Tyrant growled as it started getting back up almost immediately, but the grenade launcher clicked empty at the same time.

As if this had been a planned sequence, the moment that Valentine and Redfield were out of ammo, Burton fired off his last three magnum bullets into the abomination's back just as it was getting up, knocking Tyrant down to its hands and knees, before he and Chambers began to start pelting it with their 9mm pistols. _Bang! Bang!_ The smaller bullets peppered the monster's body, clearly irritating it as it got to its feet, but not doing much else.

"Barry, give me that flare gun!" The young woman yelled, rushing over to him. "Please tell me there's another cartridge for it!"

There was, and Valentine loaded it into the chamber of the large orange weapon just as Redfield was starting to shoot Tyrant with the magnum revolver that he had been saving since the mansion. Each of the high caliber bullets knocked the abomination backwards, having even more force than Burton's, but the bad news in all this was that the young man didn't have any extra bullets, either.

"Get back!" The young woman yelled, aiming the flare gun. "Everyone get back!"

As soon as her teammates were clear, and just as the abomination was crouching down to rush at her, Valentine pulled the trigger, sending the glowing red charge right into Tyrant's roaring mouth just as it started to run, and then everything vanished in an explosion of red and yellow light. The blast, which was meant to be seen from a few miles away, was so close and so intense, that everyone there had to cover their eyes from the light and heat until it started to fade away a few seconds later.

Slowly the red and yellow faded away, bringing back the illumination from the lights mounted along the top of the heliport's surrounding walls… revealing that Tyrant was still standing. There were some burns across its mouth, and there were dozens of holes in its pale, genderless body, from bullets of all different sizes, but unlike every other creature that STARS had faced since this nightmare began, Tyrant didn't bleed… Tyrant didn't die… and now all of them were _completely_ out of ammo.

Now all of the surviving members of STARS just stood there in a half circle around the monster, while it also just stood there for several seconds… slowly turning its head to look at each person there… until its gaze fell onto Valentine… only to pass her, and move onto Chambers. Suddenly the monster crouched down and sprinted toward the wounded girl, its huge claws leaving a deep cut across the concrete as it dug them down into the heliport before swinging upward toward its target.

"Rebecca, look out!" Burton yelled.

The short haired girl tried to jump out of the way, but thanks to her wounded leg, Chambers was only able to a kind of awkward, sideways stumble as the claws came right at her. Tearing through her tactical vest, as well as her shirt, Chambers' awkward stumble was probably the only thing that stopped the claws from sinking into her skin as well, instead just leaving her nearly topless as the force sent her rolling sideways along the concrete.

As for Tyrant, the speed and force with which the monster was moving, caused its claw to put a long cut up the wall behind where the short haired girl was standing… while the rest of its body collided with it so hard that cracks started to spread out from the impact mark in all directions. For an instant, the abomination seemed dazed by what had happened, but then it turned to keep going after the wounded girl… only to let out a surprised growl when Burton leapt up onto its back.

The monster was so tall that the big man had to climb up the rest of the way after running up on the thing from behind, and now he looped his arm around its neck as if he were trying to either restrain Tyrant, or maybe put it into a sleeper hold. With as powerful as the monster was, it was only going to be a matter of seconds before it was going to reach up with its more human looking arm to rip him off… stopped when Redfield ran up and jumped into the air, kicking the abomination in the chest with both feet, causing little more than himself to crash to the ground hard as if he had just ran into a wall himself.

However, the impact, as insignificant as it was, along with Burton's continued efforts to put it off balance from behind, caused Tyrant to fall down as well… with the big man just barely being able to jump off before he would have been crushed by the weight of the abomination. Of course, all these efforts were seemingly pointless, seen as the monster just kept getting right back up no matter what they hit it with. Chambers was down, and the rest of them were unarmed and exhausted, so… what in the hell were they going to do now?

There was nothing left… no weapons, no plans… just the four of them standing against Tyrant, Umbrella's ultimate bio weapon, about to pass out while Tyrant didn't even appear phased. Again it just stood there, slowly turning its head so that it's glazed over eyes passed over each of them… this time not continuing on once they fell onto Valentine. Now clearly enraged by their attempts to destroy it, the monster let out an angry roar that seemed to shake the heliport, before crouching down to run at her… but then it happened…

"Get down!" Chambers screamed, pointing behind them. "Look out!"

Throughout all of the chaos and fighting, none of them had noticed the helicopter circling around, and making another, lower run toward the estate… a run which ended with all of the surviving STARS members having to duck down as the vehicle passed no more than thirty feet above the landing pad… doing a hard ninety degree turn onto its side so that the rotors were aimed almost straight down… and making the engine bog down a bit as it passed right over the abomination.

For a moment it looked like the helicopter was going to crash into the wall, but instead righted itself at the last minute, pulling up in order to circle around one last time. As for Tyrant… the monster stopped moving as a series of cuts started to form all across its upper body… cuts that got bigger and bigger, until half of its human arm simply fell off. The severed limb simply flopped down onto the concrete, followed by about a third of its claw… and finally the majority of its torso, including the head.

With the monster now in pieces, and no longer moving, the four survivors just sat there on the ground, staring at the remains of Tyrant in disbelief over what Vickers, their pilot had just managed to do… almost making up for leaving them in this nightmare to begin with… _almost_. Okay, fine, the young woman no longer cared about things like that, since the helicopter had finished its latest circle, and now started to land.

"Come on, Rebecca." Redfield said, moving over to the wounded girl, and picking her up. "Come on, we're getting out of here."

Now that everything was finished, and the helicopter was right there in from of them, it seemed that Valentine wasn't the only one who was suddenly having trouble moving; her legs feeling like rubber from all the fatigue and now the fading adrenaline, so that she had to kind of drag herself on all fours over to the vehicle. Burton wasn't in much better shape, but the young woman suddenly found his arms going around her and picking her up like Redfield had done with Chambers.

They were right behind the first group; Redfield sitting the short haired girl on the seat next to him, and then the big man setting Valentine right next to the young man so that he could have the whole bench on the other side of the helicopter to himself… the reason for which became obvious when Burton passed out sprawled out across the bench a moment later. The young woman did the same thing, waiting until Redfield pulled the door closed, before leaning her head on his shoulder and falling asleep… seeing that Chambers had done the same thing to him on the other side… heh, lucky him, Valentine thought… drifting off to sleep as the helicopter's rotors began to speed up for liftoff.


	41. Chapter 41 Cleansing Fire

**Deadly Silence: Resident Evil**

 **Chapter Forty One: Cleansing Fire**

Breathing heavily as he carried Chambers into the helicopter, Redfield's own body was starting to collapse as well, making him fall onto the bench next to the wounded girl, while Burton brought Valentine inside a second later. He didn't blame the big man for taking the whole bench on the other side of the vehicle, since he was passed out before the young man had even pulled the door closed, and then with a couple bangs on the metal wall with his fist to signal Vickers that they were ready to go, he settled back into the seat… only to find Valentine leaning on him as she also fell asleep.

Well, the young man thought as he put his arm around her, and then the other around Chambers when she did the same thing on his other side, all things considering, this was a pretty nice way to end this whole… fucked up mission. Leaning his head down on top of Valentine's as well, and watching through the window as the heliport vanished from sight, allowing him a quick aerial view of the entire Spenser Estate, which… actually didn't look that big from the air.

A moment later that was gone from view as well, replaced with the rising sun, as well as the slowly brightening forest canopy of the Arklay Mountains with the tallest buildings of Raccoon City just coming into view as the helicopter flew over the _BOOM!_ Suddenly there was a massive explosion from behind, flashing so brightly that it was the only thing that could be seen through the windows as the helicopter was rocked violently to the side.

Everyone else was jolted awake by this, with Chambers letting out a startled scream as alarms started going off inside the vehicle, while pieces of what looked like wood and stone debris bounced off the hull. For a few seconds the helicopter was spinning, with both the short haired girl, and Valentine holding onto him for dear life… which wasn't so bad until Burton was thrown onto him during the next hard tilt, but thankfully the pilot was able to regain control.

Now that everyone was awake and reenergized temporarily, the four of them waited until the helicopter was completely righted, before turning around to look out the window… and seeing only a smoldering crater, lined with burned trees where the Spencer Estate used to be. The mansion, the courtyard, staff house, underground cave system, and T-Virus laboratory were all just… _gone_ … as if nothing had ever been there in the first place.

Hopefully all of the monsters that had spawned from that horrible place had been taken out in the blast of its amazingly powerful self-destruct system, but… even though the monsters were gone, the Umbrella Corporation was still out there doing who even knew what, while so many good people had died. Dewey, Frost, Sullivan, Speyer, Aiken, Marini… and Wesker had all lost their lives, and for what? So Umbrella could make a few bucks selling things like the _Tyrant_ to terrorists?

So it was settled… after they all got back to the RPD, and Redfield took the longest shower of his life, and an even longer nap, he was going to march right into the Chief's office and… and what exactly was he going to say to him? All of the evidence against Wesker and Umbrella had been destroyed along with the Spencer Estate, but… but when all four of them told the _exact_ same story, that had to be worth at least launching an investigation into Umbrella, right? Vickers couldn't back them up except for the last bit, since he had been flying around all night, but four witnesses couldn't be ignored, right?

Yeah, things were going to start happening right away, the young man thought as he settled into the seat, putting his arms around the exhausted women again while Burton had already fallen back asleep. Umbrella was going to pay for this… all of it… and every single member of STARS was going to be called a hero by Mayor Warren, Redfield was going to see to it personally… yeah, he thought as his eyes got heavy… just a little nap first as the helicopter flew over the mountains toward Raccoon City.

 _MYSTERIOUS EXPLOSION ROCKS THE ARKLAY MOUNTAINS_

 _July 24th, 1998 by Ben Bertolucci_

 _This morning at about 6:00 AM, residents on the northern side of Raccoon City were awoken by what was described by witnesses as 'a brilliant flash of light'. This flash was then followed by a rumbling in the ground that made many residents worry that an earthquake was happening. The origin of the blast, although the source of which is currently unknown, appeared to come from high up in the Arklay Mountains, near the edge of the area known by locals as the 'Forest Zone'. Authorities claim that the incident is being investigated, and that details will be made available to the public as they develop._


End file.
